The Chronicles of the Digimon War
by SwedishEmperorThe1
Summary: They thought that after the battle against MaloMyotismon, peace and understanding would unite the two worlds, but little did they know that the battle was just the start of the war that not only would consume both worlds in flames, but also the entire universe, thus the death of one of the Digidestined changes the outcome from what it should've been to what it'll now become.
1. The Beginning of the End

It had all come to this. Months of fighting, planning, spying, deceit and everything else for this day to defeat the final foe. The Digidestined, The Chosen Warriors of the Digital World, were right now in battle against this final foe, whose name was MaloMyotismon.

MaloMyotismon was the chessmaster behind everything that happened to the worlds for the last months: the corruptions of Yukio Oikawa and the Digidestined of Kindness, Ken Ichijouji, and the latter's transformation to the Digimon Emperor, the creations of the Dark Towers and the Dark Rings, the births of Kimeramon, Arukenimon and Mummymon, the destructions of the Destiny Stones, the digimon invasions and the spreading of the Dark Spores copied from Ken's own into several other children, who in their loneliness and despair accepted them for talents and self-esteem, unaware that they were only keys for MaloMyotismon to open a gateway into the Digital World, there he could start his final moves for complete conquest.

But the Digidestined wouldn't allow it. They had fought too long and too hard to keep everything in order, and they wouldn't let this vampire ruin everything. The problem was that MaloMyotismon was the most ruthless enemy they ever had fought against, and his sadistic murders on Arukenimon and Mummymon had frightened them like sheeps and now they refused to fight. The only one who was ready to fight was Daisuke Motomiya, the Digidestined of Courage, Friendship and Miracle, and he and his digimon partner ExVeemon decided to take on MaloMyotismon by their own. The problem was that ExVeemon was a champion, and MaloMyotismon a mega, with years of fighting experience and ruthlessness behind him, and so right now it was pretty much an one-sided battle.

ExVeemon ran right at MaloMyotismon in an attempt to tackle him of the ground, but it didn't even lift MaloMyotismon at all. In fact he didn't even seem to had felt it at all. With a grin on his lips, MaloMyotismon picked ExVeemon up with his right hand and then threw him several feets away. The other Digidestineds could only look in shock.

"He's too powerful Daisuke! Let's get out of here before he turns ExVeemon into a handbag!" said Takeru, clearly concerned for ExVeemon's life.

"No, I never retreat! Not as long there's a fighting chance! I've never quit before and I'm not going to start now! As so long ExVeemon willing to fight, I'm backing him!" said Daisuke with the famous determination he always had with him.

ExVeemon tried to stand up after he was thrown away.

"I'll never give up Daisuke!" shouted ExVeemon, inspired and fuelled by Daisuke's determination. He rose from the ground and when he did it, blue brightness came out of his body. Somehow it seemed to empowering him, because right then ExVeemon flew at MaloMyotismon and punched him in the nose with new-found strength that it almost threw MaloMyotismon out of balance.

"It's working" Daisuke said in a surprised tone. "It's working" he said again, this time louder and more confident in his voice.

ExVeemon pulled his arms on his chest and began to form up energy for his attack.

"V-Laser!" he shouted as he released his attack. It hit right at MaloMyotismon, and it pushed him several feets away. He wasn't hurt physically since he held his arms in front of himself to protect his body, but for his pride it was a different story, and that counted for something for MaloMyotismon and now he began to become more angrier.

"Raar! So you want to play hardball, do you?!" He asked in a clearly angry tone.

"Oh right go ExVeemon! Make him shut up the very mouth of his!" shouted Daisuke to ExVeemon, encouraging him to continue with the attack.

"V-Las..." said ExVeemon when he attempted to charge up another attack but didn't succeed since now white lights came out of MaloMyotismon's yellow, cold and angry eyes.

"Mental Illusion!" shouted MaloMyotismon.

And then everything went white.

* * *

"Hey mom! Sorry I'm late!" shouted Takeru as he had just came home from school. Somehow for some reasons, his mother wanted him to come at four o clock but it was 16.15. When he went to the kitchen he saw what reason his mother had, and to be honest he just couldn't believe what his blue eyes now saw.

His older brother Yamato Ishida and their father were here, sitting around the kitchen table together with his mom.

"Hello there, son. Just in time for dinner. Mom made your favourite goulash" said his father, in an unusual happy tone.

Takeru just stood in the hallway in surprise. His parents had been divorced in years, and suddenly they were here together and acted as if they had been it for a long time, as if they never had a divorce in the first place. Takeru just stared, his brain still trying to get this. He just couldn't believe this. It wasn't supposed to be this way, and even if this was what he had wished for years, it still seemed too good to be true.

But then he decided to ignore his thoughts and mentally thanked fate for this. All his wishing, his waiting, his prayings and his hoping had finally been answered, and to mention that he had helped save both the digital world and the real world from danger, this was truly a great reward for everything. He went to the kitchen table to join in.

* * *

On the table she saw different cakes laying up for her. She was fascinated by these arts of cooking and she just wanted to eat them all.

"Wow. I can't believe it. It must be two dozen desserts. Are they all for me?" asked Miyako her mother, who nodded.

"They're all for me! Yea yea yea!" Miyako chattered in delight, since now she had all this and right now she didn't have to share it with her siblings.

* * *

Iori walked through a colourful field, which was bathing in the Sun's warmth and light. The grass on the field had the colours of not just green, but of yellow and pink as well. It also grew some threes, and on the field played some baby digimon with each other. On his left side was Hiroki Hida, a celebrated police officer and his own father. Hiroki was dressed in a blue police uniform, which was made of a blue suit, white shirt, blue tie and a blue peaked cap. On his left chest part were several ribbon bars on it.

"Dad, this is the Digital World I told you about. It can be pretty strange at first but you get used to it" said Iori with some out of character enthusiasm in his voice to his father. Ever since he first visited the Digital World he always wanted to bring his dad with him to it, to show him the true beauty it had. A beauty that was very hard to find in the real world.

Hiroki just looked at Iori with a pleasant smile but didn't say anything. Then he turned his eyes from Iori and to the clearly beautiful field, also without saying one word.

"I really love to introduce you to some of the digimon. They may look small but they are pretty powerful hehe you should have see some of the crazy staff we been through. I think you be proud!" said Iori with a soft voice nobody really had heard before while looking at his father with both warmth and pride. Yes he thought that his father was proud of him for his and his friends' struggle for a better world, and that was all he could ask for.

* * *

Under the shadow of a tree sat Hikari together with Gatomon. The tree grew on an outside park, which was placed in the middle of Tokyo. The day was very warm, and the summer sun shone strongly with its beautiful sunshine. In the park, both humans and digimon played together without any form of tension that once nearly caused open war between the species. Hikari smiled. It was just relaxing that finally both humans and digimon could live with each other in peace, something they all found benefit from. Hikari had decided to bring Gatomon with her to the park so that they both could enjoy the day.

"Its so nice. Hey, isn't it beautiful?" Hikari asked Gatomon, who sat on the opposite side of the tree. The answer didn't come because just suddenly a voice shouted for Hikari. Hikari heard the voice and she turned her head to see who just shouted for her, and she saw a boy. The boy was of young age and seemed to be at least nine or ten years old. On his right side stood a woman, certainly the boy's mother. On his arms he was holding a Nyaromon. The boy opened his mouth and asked:

"I was wondering if you could tell me when I can expecting Nyaromon to digievolve to Salamon?"

"Do you take good care of her?"

"Yea! Of course I do!"

"Don't worry. As so long you giving her a lots of love she digievolve soon enough" said Hikari. It was truly exciting to see how better things had turned out. For some time Hikari had actually truly feared that this day would never come. Once she thought that war was just some few days away during the time of the "Digital Christmas", and any thoughts of that had frightened her into the core. Just imagining it scared and disgusted her like no end. A war between humans and digimon would have been nothing but a real life nightmare; there you wouldn't be able to wake up from. She still had problems watching war movies without feeling tense, especially if they were based on true events, and imagine something like that was simply horrifying.

But fate had smiled upon them. A war never came. Instead it was peace that came, and it truly was a peace that both species enjoyed to no end. Of all everything Hikari and her friends had been through and endured, it was all worth it. This truly was, as the wise men said, "The Fruits of the Hard Labours".

* * *

Takeru didn't listen to his mom's bad joke she was telling to the family. He was just happy that they were a family again. In fact, the word "happy" couldn't even describe enough of that he felt right now. It was really _more_ than happy, something he hadn't felt in his whole life. Takeru didn't know what you call it but right now he didn't care. His family was back again and so he didn't have to care anymore.

He was just about to eat the rice from the bowl that he held in his hand than suddenly he heard a small, squeaky voice saying his name:

"Takeru!"

Takeru knew already who just called him.

"Hey Patamon what are you doing here?" he asked Patamon with a bit surprise in his voice. In this important moment of his life, he didn't expect his digimon partner to be here.

"I came to get you. We need you" answered Patamon, who sat on Takeru's head.

"What? But I'm not finish eating dinner" said a more confused Takeru.

"None of this is real, it's all a delusion"

"What are you talking about Patamon? Look my family is finally all together" said Takeru with an enthusiastic tone...only to see his family suddenly was somehow pulled away from him as the background became more of a white space. Takeru's mind went wild with confusion and panic, and those feelings spread to his mouth.

"Wait a minute! What's happening?! DON'T GO! PATAMON DO SOMETHING! I WANT THEM TO STAY!"

"It's not real!" said Patamon in a loud voice, which snapped Takeru from his wild, upset rant.

"Wait a second they weren't here at all!" said a shocked Takeru for the shocking and horrifying realization. As the realization began to set in on his mind, he suddenly remembered, and he hated what he just remembered. He began to frown, and his face showed both deep bitterness and cold hatred to the thing which had just tried to fool him into the imaginations of his dreams in an attempt to distract him from defeating it.

"MaloMyotismon, you're going to pay!" he said with determined hate and disgust for the named thing he was planning to waste.

Suddenly, a well-known figure just came inside the white space from nowhere.

"There you're dude!" said Daisuke with a pretty loud voice.

"Daisuke?" said Takeru, surprised that Daisuke just came out of nowhere to him, but Daisuke didn't seem to bring much mind to it.

"So are you ready to help me?!" Daisuke asked with a battle-ready tone.

Takeru hummed and nodded. He too was ready for battle.

* * *

Tasting the sweet taste of cake, Miyako moaned in delight. This was a truly good cake, and the good part was that there were plenty of them left for her. The taste she enjoyed was like a ride into the heavens themselves. She just couldn't have enough of it. As she munched on the cake, she heard a voice calling out her name.

"Miyako!"

She turned to her left and saw her digimon partner Hawkmon, the only digimon who was partnered with a human from the opposite gender.

"My dear is this really what you wanted?" he asked her.

"Huh" she said in surprise of that question. "Well of course dessert is my favourite meal" she answered, but that didn't convince Hawkmon of her true intentions.

"Do you like not having your brothers and sisters around?"

"Yeah, it means more for me" she said and took another bite of the cake, unaware about what she just said, or what message Hawkmon was trying to tell her. It didn't take her long to get what he tried to tell her though.

"Actually I kind of miss them right now" she said and sighed.

"You're always surrounded by brothers and sisters and you feel like you get past over, so you wonder what it would be like if they weren't around, am I right?" Hawkmon asked, trying to play the therapist.

Miyako seemed to be in deep thoughts about what he just said. Those thoughts apparently came into a slow realization.

"You're right. I guess always wondered what it would be like to be an only child" she said in a quiet voice, apparently disgusted by her own quick moment of selfishness. "But I love my brothers and sisters and I love having them in my life!" she said with a louder voice.

Hawkmon hummed, satisfied that he got Miyako to see more deeply about the whole thing.

"Thank you Hawkmon, I guess I was paying a really big oinker back there. Sometimes it takes someone to show you more clearly. You're the greatest friend ever" she said, thankful for his help.

"You're making my feathers blush" he said as his feathers did blush by the gratefulness he received.

Suddenly, the whole room turned into a white space, and a hole opened from nowhere. Out came a figure they both were both surprised and happy about to see.

"Hey guys, we really could use your help!" said ExVeemon as soon he saw them.

Miyako hummed, ready to help ExVeemon to take care of the bad guy.

* * *

"...and thats how we defeated Daemon. Pretty cool huh?" said Iori as he told his father about the battles the Digidestined had been through. He and his father were now overviewing a colour-filled valley on a near edge of a cliff. Hiroki didn't answer but continued looking at the valley. Iori laughed at the weirdness of the story before he heard a voice calling out his name.

"Iori"

Iori turned to right in surprise and he saw his digimon partner Armadillomon. Iori became quickly enthusiastic about presenting his father to Armadillomon.

"Armadillomon, I been looking all over for you. I want you to meet my dad" he said in a happy tone...something that almost broke Armadillomon's heart now that he must tell Iori the harsh truth.

"Iori" he said in a sad tone as he looked at Iori with an apologizing look. "I don't think that's your father".

Iori was really taken by surprise about what Armadillomon just said.

"What are you talking about? He's right here"

"This isn't real" Armadillomon said, perfectly aware that convincing Iori would be difficult, as well heartbreaking  
once he "succeeded" to open Iori's eyes.

"Armadillomon, I think I know my own father when I see him". He then turned his head to his father. "He's just being funny dad" he told Hiroki, still refusing to believe Armadillomon.

Hiroki just looked at Iori, with the smile still on his lips. He then turned his head to the valley and suddenly walked right toward it. Since he held Iori's hand, Iori was dragged with him until Iori's hand slipped from Hiroki's hand. Then Hiroki began to glide stand tall through the drop and the valley. Iori began to panic of his father's abandonment.

"NOOO! WAIT DAD! DON'T GO!" he shouted for his dad as he continued to glide away from him, his back turned on Iori.

"Iori, this's an illusion" said Armadillomon, hoping that this would wake Iori's senses.

Then Hiroki just disappeared.

Iori looked at where his father just disappeared with a crushing defeat on his face. He couldn't believe that all this was just cruel hoax, placed on him to play on the only wish he ever had. Iori was almost at a breaking point as losing his father twice was almost too much to handle. He didn't know what to do. Should he cry or what? Any normal kid would now cry their eyes out...but Iori was not a normal kid, not ever since his dad passed away the first time. Not only that but now he was also a Digidestined. Accepting the truth was hard, but he had to do it or else they all would perish.

"I can't believe he's gone. He left again. I never got to share the Digital World with my dad; I won't make that mistake again. I'm going to share this world with my mom; I hope she can handle it".

Iori turned around to face Armadillomon.

"What do you say about that, Armadillomon?" he asked the said partner of his, wondering if he liked that idea.

"I say it sounds like a winner" he answered, happy that Iori not only took this more well than he had thought he would, but it also inspired the kid to do great things. "Lets go"

Suddenly, the Digiegg of Courage appeared behind Armadillomon and it shone with bright, orange light. Then it took flames, and the flames reshaped into a familiar figure.

"Flamedramon!"

"Come on, lets go" he told the young boy.

"Everyone are waiting for us Iori" Armadillomon said to Iori.

"Yeah" the boy answered, feeling more better than he ever had for a long time.

* * *

Hikari was sitting on the grass, continuing to overlook the park and felt warmth in her heart of the beauty her eyes saw. Gatomon had now came to her side and watched the park alongside her.

"Isn't it just wonderful Gatomon? Humans and Digimon playing together without some lunatic trying to destroy it all" she said while watching all the human children playing with the Digimon babies, something they had done in some hours now.

"Yeah but..." said Gatomon, trying to make a conversation but suddenly stopped herself.

Hikari turned her head to Gatomon.

"What is it?" she asked, wondering about what Gatomon was trying to say.

Gatomon closed her eyes and turned her head down, as if she was feeling ashamed about something.

"I hate to break it to you but this isn't the things really are" she said in a sad and disappointing tone, her eyes still closed and her head still down.

"Huh?" Hikari was surprised about what Gatomon just said and how she sounded like she meant it. Hikari turned her head back to the park.

"What do you mean? Have you been into the catnip again?" she asked as a joke to Gatomon. Gatomon remained serious and ran in front of Hikari.

"Its all a big illusion!" she shouted in a loud voice. Suddenly, the whole park just turned into big "pictures" of sort and they were pulled away by some invisible force into the white space that now was surrounding Hikari and Gatomon, and slowly disappeared.

"You mean none of it was real?" Hikari asked, shocked and disappointed of what she witnessed. Her emotions quickly became fear as she stared at the white space.

"Gatomon, what's going on? Where am I?" she asked her partner, frightened by this weird place.

Suddenly, blue, bright light came behind Gatomon's back, and out of it appeared the Digiegg of Friendship. The egg and the blue light transformed into the familiar face of Raidramon.

"Raidramon?!" said Hikari in a loud and surprised voice.

"Come on Hikari, we need you" he immediately said to her.

"MaloMyotismon casted this spell on all the Digidestined to distract you. Trust me, I know his tricks" Gatomon explained to Hikari about the situation.

"So then we wouldn't put up a fight?" asked Hikari, started to get the situation and now became bitter about it.

"He always has been lazy. Thats why he needed me, but those days are over. I'm with you Hikari" said Gatomon, trying to pep Hikari and herself up for the next battle against the monstrosity she once called "master".

"Lets go" said Hikari, ready to fight the ultimate evil that stood between peace and destruction.

* * *

Hikari and Gatomon rode on Raidramon across this white space that didn't seem to end at all. After several minutes, Hikari began to wonder if it was even possible to get out of this place. What if this was MaloMyotismon's backup plan in case they might break out of the illusions: to be doomed to travel through this place for all eternity. The thoughts of that possibility depressed somewhat Hikari: if that was true than it would be no way to stop MaloMyotismon from conquering both worlds. Everything they had fought for would be for nothing, and people would suffer from it. The thoughts of the pain and the sadness the people would suffer from terrified Hikari, but they also motivated her. She just couldn't give up, not now, not ever. So what if it was impossible to get out, that didn't mean she was dead, and so long she still was breathing air, she would find a way out of this limbo place and stop MaloMyotismon for all time, either now or later. But right now she decided to let Raidramon do the searching and herself do the hoping.

After some other several minutes, Hikari could see small figures that stood some few hundreds of meters away. As Raidramon ran closer to the figures, Hikari recognized them: they were all her friends, waiting for her. Now she was with them, and they all greeted her with most enthusiasm. After many "hello there" and "glad you came", Hikari decided to ask them about the illusion.

"So guys, have you been through the same?"

"What do you mean?" asked Miyako

"I mean if you also had been through some distracting illusion of sort"

"Yes, I had" said Miyako

"Me too" said Iori

"Me too" said Takeru

"Well how were they?" asked Hikari.

"Well Miyako's illusion was that she got all the dessert in the whole world, and she ate so much that her stomach blew up" answered Hawkmon.

"Hawkmon!"

"What? She wanted to know what your illusion was and I told her that. Isn't nothing wrong with that, and since I'm the Digimon of Sincerity, I can't make a lie to our friends now can I?" said Hawkmon in a matter-of-fact tone to Miyako, who blushed in embarrassment. Meanwhile, the other Digidestined and their partners were trying to hold their laughters of Miyako's silly illusion and behaviour.

Miyako sighed

"Well, you could at least try to make a lie"

"I could, but I prefer to tell the truth. It's much funnier that way" he said smirking.

The Digidestined and their partners chuckled at Hawkmon's remark.

"Na, I was just kidding. Miyako didn't ate herself up until she blew up. Just some few cakes"

"Still a silly illusion if you ask me" said a grinning Takeru.

"Well what was your illusion then?" asked a frowning Miyako.

Suddenly, Takeru's grin disappeared and a sad expression replaced it, making Miyako to feel guilty of her question, and the others to feel sympathetic for Takeru, aware that he was no doubt pained by it.

"My illusion was that my family was no longer divorced and together again, as they used to be before they began to fight for some reasons and took that divorce. My greatest dream has always been that my family could be together again, like a normal one, but I guess it was too much to ask for." Takeru said, with a trembling voice.

The others showed outright sympathy for the blond boy. Been through the same thing for some moments ago, they knew how terrible and emotional crushing it was for him to see his most wanted wish literally turned into pieces in front of his eyes, and Takeru was definitely the last one who deserved that kind of punishment, as the kind and goodhearted person he was.

Hikari put her hand to his shoulder to comfort him. He accepted it, and some seconds later, the sad expression disappeared.

"Now what were those illusions?" asked an uncomfortable Miyako.

"They're MaloMyotismon's attacks against the mental mind, meant to send his enemies inside a fantasy world, created of their most wanted wishes, in order to distract them" answered Gatomon. "Myotismon has always been an excellent manipulator, and now he seems to had learned to take one step further in his mind games".

"That must be the reason why Takeru saw his family as one again, because that is his most wanted wish, and that must be also the reason why I got to meet my dad..." said Iori. Everyone else could hear the tense in his voice that was unusual for the young boy as he paused. "...because some monster though it's fun to play those sick games on us" he continued in a barely hearable voice, mostly speaking to himself than to the others.

Not wanted to let her friend to fall into a deeper depression, Hikari tried to put his and the rests' attention to what she had been through, an illusion that unlike theirs might become reality.

"And the reason why I saw peace between humans and digimon alike. Ever since I became a Digidestined, I've always hoped that we could one day cooperate with each others in an interdimensional size, for the good for us all in peace, without being worried if a war will break out. I hope that after we defeated MaloMyotismon for good, that dream will be true" she said.

Her intentions must had worked, because now the depressed expressions that were on her fellow teammates' faces were replaced with optimistic bright. They too hoped that their hard work would be rewarding to not just them but to all, humans and digimon alike.

Takeru placed his hand on Hikari's shoulder.

"Don't worry. I think that dream will be reality once we've ended this" he said in a comfortable tone.

"I hope"

Hikari then turned her head to Daisuke. The outgoing boy had been quiet through the whole discussion. He hadn't even said one single word. Maybe whatever the illusion he'd been through was just that traumatizing for him that he simply refused to speak about it. If that was the case than Hikari didn't want to ask him about it since it maybe would bring bad consequences for him, and through him the team.

"So what did you see?" Miyako asked Daisuke without any care.

"Well...I didn't actually see anything of that stuff you mentioned. All I saw was a bright light and then after that, I saw all of you just standing there and looking like you were all sunshine and rainbows of some reason." Daisuke answered.

"If you didn't fall for MaloMyotismon's trick like everyone else, than how come you were able to come into our dreams and pull us back?" Iori asked with curiosity.

"Well, when you all stood there, I tried to shake you out of whatever you were doing but it was futile. You just refused to let go of those dream tricks the ugly pulled you into no matter how much I tried. Then I wished for any way I could pull you out and before I knew it, portals appeared out of nowhere with all of you inside, and then I went in and the rest is history."

"Wait, how come that you're immune to MaloMyotismon's Mental Illusion, and we're not?" asked Miyako with some whiny tone in her voice.

"How the heck would I know? Maybe you should ask him instead" Daisuke answered with some annoyance.

Hoping to stop another potential argument between Daisuke and Miyako, Hikari asked:

"Where's Ken?"

Everyone looked around after the raven-haired boy. In their talk about MaloMyotismon's magic trick, they had completely forgot the Digidestined of Kindness and hadn't thought about him until now. As they looked around, they couldn't find even much of a sight of him. Anxiety started to grow as they became more worried if something had happened to him, and with MaloMyotismon as their enemy of today, it could be anything.

"Where do you think he is? Do you think MaloMyotismon has gotten to him now?" Hikari asked, worried that the worst had happened to her shy friend.

"I don't think so. If he did than that sociopathic vampire would has invited us to his little victory dancing as his guests of honour in case he did Ken in." Answered Gatomon in hope that her answer would soothe Hikari's worry, though inside she wasn't as sure if Ken was ok as she claimed.

"How come that you didn't bring out Ken out of his spiritual prison?" Takeru asked Daisuke. Since Ken wasn't just Daisuke's DNA-Digievolution partner but also his best friend, surely he should be the one Daisuke would go for first and foremost, even before Hikari or anyone else in this group.

"Well I tried to, but he was even harder to reach than all of you. And when the portals came up, he was the only who didn't get any. I was hoping that perhaps he was with you guys" answered Daisuke, and the others didn't miss the worried tone that came out of his words.

"Do you think that he's in another form of dream world, that somehow was separated from those illusions you were in?" asked Armadillomon, hoping that it might be some logical explanation why not even Daisuke, for all his willpower, couldn't bring Ken to them.

"If that is the case; what do you think what wish he's living through? You think that perhaps he's seeing the same thing Hikari saw, or familiar?" asked Patamon. It shouldn't be that surprising if that illusion was what Ken was witnessing right now. Despite his dark past as the Digimon Emperor, Ken was a kind and goodhearted boy of a quality that was rare and hard to find among people, and his willingness to atone for his past crimes was something Patamon found intriguing, as he was used to evil enemies that wouldn't show even one bit of remorse or regret for the evil acts they had committed, not even when they were dying and their lives hung to a thread. And for the last couple of months, Patamon had became rather fond of the boy, and he was sure everyone else in their group, human and digimon alike, had became fond of Ken as well, and the humble boy definitely didn't deserve the treatment he had received from Arukenimon, Oikawa and Daemon, and he was ready to free him from whatever place MaloMyotismon had imprisoned him in with same zeal he would have if it was Takeru that was missing.

Everyone started to wonder of what Ken might witness in his own illusioned world, considering his mysterious nature, with the exception of Daisuke, who suddenly looked more worried and anxious.

"I...I don't think that the chase" he said rather anxiously, which didn't escape the ears of his team as they turned around to him to know what he meant with that.

"When I looked at you all when you were in your illusions, you all looked so happy and smiled big smiles, as if wherever you were, the place made you happy somehow, and I was worried that if I would be able to pull you back to reality, you would refuse to let go and instead keep staying in your happy place. Ken however looked horrified and terrified, as if he was going through a nightmare" said Daisuke, and then the team heard that, they couldn't think of any words.

After some awkward silence, Miyako fearfully asked what everyone wondered:

"What do you think he's going through? What do you think he sees?"

Everyone started to think their own theories of answers to that question, and none of them anything positive. As if anything positive could be found when you were dealing with MaloMyotismon, and with Ken apparently still in his claws, goodness knew what horrors he was facing at the hands of that monster.

As everyone else in the group thought of what horrors Ken probably was facing in the illusion he was trapped in, Daisuke suddenly got a feeling of déjà vu as Miyako's question brought forth a flashback of a time not long ago. A time that took place some few days before the disastrous Christmas but after Ken was accepted into their little community. Daisuke remembered that day as if it happened just the last day, and he could feel the chills crossing through his back as the flashback became clear, as he remembered the talk he had with Ken that day and what exactly Ken told to him.

* * *

He was in his room just chilling out and taking it easy, and along with him were the closest friends he ever had in his life. First it was DemiVeemon, who goofed around with Minomon on his bed, playing whatever game they played and just enjoying themselves. The second one was Ken Ichijouji, the boy genius, the former Digimon Emperor, his DNA-digievolution partner, but most important of all, his best friend in the world(s).

It was funny on how different things were just some few months ago. Before he became part of this whole Digidestined business, he was just some normal kid living the young life to the fullest before he was chosen to become a protector of a world he thought didn't exist. A very strange world, but a world he none of less had learned to love and to be protective of. And in this change of fate, he found a friend for life, and that friend was Veemon, who was basically him in the different body; outgoing, food loving and a great enjoyer of life.

And it was really funny how his relationship to Ken had completely transformed from one of bitter rivalry and murderous hate to one of close friendship and great trust. When he became a Digidestined, Ken had already made himself infamous through his actions as the dreaded Digimon Emperor. During that period, Ken was a murderous tyrant who killed and enslaved digimon for not only to expand his empire, but also for his own sick amusement, right to the final battle against Kimeramon, which afterward Ken got this epiphany that the Digital World and its inhabitants were as real like the Real World, and not some video game which he could treat as he wanted.

Daisuke was really surprised that behind that monster that was the Digimon Emperor, there was a lonely and depressed child who had let his dark past consume him and who didn't really want to harm anyone, and only did so because of sheer misunderstanding and emotional manipulation by some sick freaks who dared call themselves digimon. When Wormmon's sacrifice cracked the mask that Ken had hid behind, Daisuke couldn't help but feel sorry for him, and Daisuke was the kind of guy who felt that he had to help anyone who went through difficult times and so he tried to help this boy that wasn't actually the sicko he had first thought.

It took time but he finally got through Ken, and before he knew it, he found in him a friend for life, whose relationship turned from loose alliance to camaraderie to a beautiful friendship which Daisuke was sure was something that was extremely rare and difficult to find, but he found it and he was happy for it.

And he found it in a former enemy no less.

Now that was what you call irony.

Anyway, as he chilled and took it easy, Ken went to him and sat near him on the floor and, strangely enough, looked rather bashful, as if it was something he wanted to say something to Daisuke but suddenly had let his shyness get in the way. As he paid his attention to Ken, Daisuke could tell that he wanted to say something to him, but he knew that Ken was a shy boy so instead of pushing him he just let him take his time to gather courage to say whatever he wanted to say.

After a short time, Ken gathered enough courage to ask Daisuke the rather bashful question he had, and he opened his mouth and out it came.

"Daisuke, I wonder what do you want as a Christmas present?"

Daisuke shot up his eyes in surprise. _Christmas_? Wasn't that the holiday the Christians from West celebrates, as far as his attention in school knew. The Japanese don't celebrate Christmas, only the tiny minority of Christians that lived in this country, so why did he ask something like that? What, was Ken part of that minority?

As if he could see the question inside Daisuke's head, Ken smiled and shook his head.

"No I'm not a Christian if thats is what you wonder. No, I just like the idea of a holiday there you give gifts to people close to you. And as you're my best friend, I thought of looking through the cultural differences and just give you something. You know, to show how much I appreciate how much you've done for me and the second chance you've given me."

Ken's words touched Daisuke deeply and he couldn't help but smile. It was cute that Ken actually wanted to give him something, as if the happiness that came out of their friendship wasn't enough for Ken to show how important he was in Daisuke's life.

"Na, you don't need to give me anything, man."

"You sure" Ken asked rather surprised.

"Yeah I'm sure. Save your money for something else. I've already enough of what I want anyway" Daisuke said and grinned a friendly grin to Ken.

Ken grinned back, happy to know that he didn't need to buy Daisuke anything to make sure how much he appreciated the kindness the out-going boy had showed him. He already knew of it, and somehow it was strange in Ken's mind that why wasn't Daisuke given the crest of kindness instead. He definitely deserved it more than him...

"Hey guys do you know what I want?" DemiVeemon suddenly asked with a cheerful tone, interrupting Ken's thoughts. He had heard Ken's question to Daisuke, and when he did the thoughts of presents made their way into his blue head, and just like a child near Christmas, he really couldn't help but wanting some presents of his own.

"No, what?" said Daisuke in a mock-curious tone. He already knew what his digimon partner probably wanted for presents but he decided to play along.

"I want to have all candy bars and ice-creams in the whole world!" answered DemiVeemon cheerfully, with a big smile on his lips. The thoughts of gaining all the sweets of the whole world made his mouth watering, and the infamous hunger for food made its way to his stomach.

"Thats what I want too. Please can you get some for us huh?" asked Minomon. He too could feel the infamous desire for human sweets making its way to his stomach as he heard DemiVeemon's wish.

"Is it anything you would want beside food? I mean, there're other stuff to wish for but just that. Seriously, you guys must have the smallest imaginations ever." said Daisuke while he rolled his eyes and threw up his arms. He sincerely started to believe that the stomachs of those two little devils weren't really stomachs, but bottomless pits that couldn't ever be satisfied no matter what.

"Nope. I want food. Food is my favourite thing of all things." Answered DemiVeemon cheerfully, completely missing the sarcasm in Daisuke's voice.

"I noticed that. Just make me think that by the time you hit my age, you name will likely be renamed to BigVeemon, or Fatsomon or something." said Daisuke with a teasing grin on his lips.

Minomon started to laugh loudly at Daisuke's remark, while DemiVeemon crossed his small arms and hmmed in annoyance. Daisuke started to laugh as well, but not as loud as Minomon. Ken chuckled for himself. Not because of what Daisuke said actually was funny but because how goofy they all acted, and it was kind of cute how embarrassed DemiVeemon looked, with the crossing of his tiny arms and the red blush on his oversized head.

"So what do you want than?" asked Daisuke to Ken, who apparently was taken aback by his question. Now that his raven-haired friend asked him what he wanted as a Christmas present, Daisuke didn't want to be any less of a guy so he asked what Ken wanted, and cultural differences be damned.

"Huh?...well...I'm not sure, at least not of anything materialistic, but there's something I would like to have." Answered Ken with a rather quiet voice, which didn't escape the others in the room, and Daisuke suddenly got this gut feeling that told him that the next thing Ken would say wouldn't be pretty.

"I want redemption for all the things I'd done as the emperor. I want to pay back for the crimes I'd committed. I want forgiveness, and though I know you and the other Digidestined have given it to me, I'm not sure if everyone else wants to be as forgiving. I don't know why but somehow its feels like that the help I try to give you guys isn't enough. Maybe it really isn't enough...maybe I can only be truly forgiven if I get the ultimate punishment...paid the ultimate prize."

Silence married with the room, and everything went still. Daisuke felt the creeps going through his spine as he figured out what Ken hinted at. People tend to think him as a guy with too much confidence and too little brain. Someone who couldn't find his way out of a building even if arrows were painted on walls and a map of the inside structure was on his hands, and who only could rely on sheer dumb luck for any success, but in reality Daisuke was a pretty intelligent guy with a brain that was rather sharp for his age, only just unenthusiastic about school. And he immediately knew exactly what Ken hinted at with his little speech; he still was so consumed with guilt and remorse that he actually was considering his own _death_.

Daisuke shouldn't be really surprised of it. The hints were there even before Ken joined the Digidestined, and he remembered the fight against Arukenimon's Okuwamon and how clearly suicidal Ken was during that fight. He remembered on how breathless he was when he witnessed the tormented way Ken acted and how he was ready to let that overgrown, ugly-looking bug of a fake digimon tear him apart in his misguided belief that it was the only way he could repay the crimes he committed during his time as the Digimon Emperor. Fortunately, Daisuke acted fast before that could happen, and he pulled Ken out of his suicide-by-fake-digimon plot, but he got this weird gut-feeling afterward that the suicidal depression still was in Ken's system, and now it was finally confirmed.

Needless to say, Daisuke didn't like it. It hurt him to see that, despite all the kind things Ken had done for the Digital World and its population for the resent months, Ken still thought himself as a lesser being, as a monster that only deserved to be killed and its corpse dumped at the wildness. Pushing all his creeping feelings down, he put up a smile on his face and went over to Ken. Right now, he needed to play the therapist, and it would be more efficient if he put up some positivity.

He laid his hand on Ken's shoulder and spoke to him with an upbeat but still serious voice.

"Look Ken, I know that you still feel awful for the things you did during your less than inspiring time as the Digimon Emperor, but that time is over. The Emperor is over, it's only Ken Ichijouji now, and he's not what the Emperor was, or what Arukenimon wanted him to be. He's my best friend, and of the kind that is really hard to find, less gain. He's not only that but he's one of the kindest people I've ever met, and he's one of the few people that actually has enough humanity to not to see me as a stupid, idiotic brat that should only be hang around with if you really has to, but as the person I really am, and he's not afraid to be friend with me despite how it would ruin his reputation as a genius kid. He's also one of the bravest people I've met as well, since when everyone else do wrong, they either make excuses and tries to unveil themselves of their responsibilities, or they simply run away, but he takes on the responsibility and do his dues, in progress saving lives from curtain death or worse. I'm going to tell that I'm very happy to met him and befriend him, because I wouldn't know what to do with myself without him to show me what to do. So you don't deserve to feel like that Kenny boy, you should instead be happy with yourself because after the things you'd been through, happiness is what you really deserves and I'm going to tell you, when all this are over, and Arukenimon and Mummymon are defeated, we'll celebrate it the whole night long, and you'll enjoy yourself. That's a order, mister."

Ken was speechless, and so were the digimon. They didn't know how to respond to Daisuke's speech. Granted, this wasn't the first time Daisuke pulled this kind of speech, but as they were used to the easy-going and cheerful Daisuke, they were always taken by surprise anytime the serious, analytical and emotional supportive Daisuke came out and did what he do best. As they were his closest friends, they were perfectly aware that there was more in Daisuke than what he showed to the everyday people, but still they couldn't help but being taken aback by the real side of Daisuke Motomiya.

A big smile suddenly made its way to Ken's face and it was filled with gratefulness and heart-warming feelings so that it basically already told what he said next wordlessly.

"Thanks Daisuke. I appreciate what you said. You truly are a great friend"

"Yeah, he's right, but just not only that; you're really one of the best people around" said Minomon. He was extremely grateful that Daisuke came to their lives and helped Ken with the problems he faced. That goggle-wearing boy was something that Minomon once thought only existed in his dreams; someone whose kindness and forgiveness were limitless and free, and would help his partner to see the light that was prisoned inside his own darkness. In Minomon's own thoughts, Daisuke was a miracle in a human body who was sent by God, as the humans calls it, in a time of desperate needs, answered the prays he prayed when he was but a chew toy of the Digimon Emperor.

"That's Daisuke alright" DemiVeemon cheerfully said, proud that he'd such an awesome partner.

"It's no big deal guys. Just doing what friends do." Daisuke said rather bashfully as he swept his hand through his hair and blushed, not really used to that much of praise.

"Well, you're doing it well. You should be more proud of it" said Ken with a smile.

"Yeah, maybe I should" said Daisuke more bashfully. At least Ken wasn't in his suicidal fantasy now, and that was what counted the most.

And yet he couldn't help but again feeling his gut telling him that this wouldn't be the last time Ken ended up swallowed up by his own life-dangerous depression...

...and that next time, it would be more difficult to make him see the other way.

* * *

Back in reality, Daisuke saw the others wondering about Ken's whereabout, while he himself started to think about things after that therapist session . After that event, Daisuke had tried even harder to make sure that Ken wouldn't let himself being consumed by his suicidal thoughts, and while it looked like he was succeeding with it, he always felt that they were still inside Ken, just buried for the moment and waiting for the next opportunity.

And then it hit him. The opportunity had already came with the ugly's Mental Illusion attack. Thats probably why Ken looked so differently than everyone else; he was probably living through his wishes for punishment for his past crimes. Punishment that likely will end with...

"Oh shit!"

Everyone else turned to him, curious with his sudden outburst.

"What is it Daisuke?" Iori asked.

"I think what that freak is planning to do with Ken, and we must find him before something really bad will happen!" said Daisuke. With that sick mind of that Dracula wannabe, Ken's ultimate desire was like his late Christmas present, and Daisuke was sure that the vampire was on his way to collect it.

"What bad is happening to Ken?" Miyako asked, clearly fearful of whatever thing Daisuke thought was happening with Ken.

"I don't have time to explain. We must find him NOW!" Daisuke shouted, and then he quickly jumped on Raidramon's back and off they went, not even bothering to see if the others followed. They needed to find Ken fast before the worst would happen, but it was difficult as they were inside an empty white space. Daisuke didn't really know how to find Ken in this endless void, but rather running forward than staying at one place, and if any god were watching than maybe they could find Ken before that monster do. If he could find everyone else in their illusions than he could find Ken as well. Daisuke prayed to every deity he could think off that they would find Ken and bring him safety back home.

* * *

He couldn't see anything that was in front of him. A large sandstorm prevented him to see anything clearly, and he had to shield his eyes with his right arm from the sand.

"Where...am I?" Ken Ichijouji asked to himself. Well, he knew enough that he was in a desert, but what desert and which world he was on he didn't know.

As if the weather heard his question, the sandstorm suddenly disappeared and everything went still. He saw an endless desert that stretched miles ahead, but that wasn't the thing that caught his attention. It was that black, tall spire that stood up at the horizon, and above it the dark, circular cloud that was stationed without movements, leaving itself like a sour thumb in the otherwise clear sky.

He was surprised to see something like that at the horizon, but what really caught his eyes was the thing that hung at the top of the spire. As he looked harder he could see that it wasn't just a thing...it was a person. A person hung at the top of the spire, and he or she looked familiar to Ken. He could tell that he had seen this person before, and he tried to figure out who it was at the top.

"That's..." he said as he looked even harder at the person that hung at the spire's top, trying to remember who he, as he could see which gender he was, was.

Then he saw him as clear as the sun. He saw exactly who that person was, and the revelation who he was caused his blood to freeze and his eyes getting bigger in shock. It couldn't be him. No way in hell it couldn't. It was just impossible, just plain impossible even for the rules of this world that the person apparently chained at the spire was...

"The Digimon Emperor!"

He ran right toward to the spire, while repeatedly thinking that it couldn't be in his head. The Digimon Emperor was dead. He died the same day his horrid creature Kimeramon died, so it couldn't be him. It must be a mirage of some sort because it was against all laws of time and space that the person chained to the spire was once his evil side that went loose during his early time in the Digital World, created by the Dark Spore's manipulation of his inner darkness. He had to get to him and see him up close, only than he could be sure it was a mirage...or the emperor himself in the flesh.

As he was not far from the spire, he stopped running as he, to his further shock, saw digimon suddenly appeared from the thin air around the spire. He saw a Tyrannomon, a Gorillamon, a Monochromon, a Unimon, several Bakemons, a Digitamamon, a Gotsumon, an Elecmon and several other digimon. They were all of different sizes and levels but if it was something they all had in common than it was the hate that was in their eyes as they were looking at the fallen tyrant that hung near the top of the spire.

"You're a horrible person!" the Gotsumon shouted at the emperor with rage in its voice.

"Do you have any idea how many digimon suffered because of you?!" a Gizamon loudly asked the emperor with even more rage than that of the Gotsumon.

"The pain and humiliation of all those digimon you oppressed and whipped...have a taste of it!" the Elecmon shouted as he shot out his electric attack right at the hanging ex-tyrant and hit him right on. The emperor shook in pain as the electricity was running wild on his body, but he didn't have the time to scream as the Unimon and the Gotsumon attacked him as well, hitting the emperor with full force. The attacks were so quick that the emperor didn't have the time to scream or cry of the pain he felt in his entire body. The digimon wouldn't allow him to do that as they attacked with more ferocity and more hate; hatred they all felt toward this monster in human skin which had done nothing but brought them pain and suffering that hadn't been seen since the time of the Dark Masters. The tyrant would pay for his crimes, and he would pay them with his body and soul.

Ken himself watched the digimon delivering their revenge on the former emperor with frozen shock and terror. He was so horrified of what he was watching that he couldn't move even just one finger. This...couldn't be right? This couldn't be real? This must be a nightmare he was forced to live through, a nightmare he wanted to wake up from. The pain and the tortured body language of the emperor cut through his heart as he still watched the horrid event. No, it wasn't the emperor's pain that cut through his heart..._his_ pain did. It was he that was beaten into a mess; he who still was seen as a tyrannical monster by the very beings he had tried to atone to. The rage and the hatred...they were overwhelming. He couldn't believe it. Was he really such a monster that they would put him through such torture just that he would feel how it felt to be the victim? Was he really the one behind all that overwhelming, righteous anger?

Then one last attack hit the emperor so hard so that his dreaded glasses went off his face. Ken could no longer watch the torture against the hated past himself so he turned his head around with his eyes closed. After a few seconds, he turned his head back and opened his eyes, hoping in futile that he would be awake from this nightmare but he could see that he was at the same place, and the spire and the digimon around it remained at the same place. Only one thing was different; the Digimon Emperor wasn't there anymore. He no longer was chained to the spire, in fact he couldn't see him anywhere.

It was obvious to Ken why the Digimon Emperor wasn't there anymore: he had paid for his crimes with the ultimate prize. Only the glasses which laid some few feets away from him were all that remained of the former ruler of the Digital World.

The spire suddenly exploded into tiny data bits and disappeared into nothingless. And then the digimon did it as well, their eyes still looking at where the spire was at with the same hatred as before, not even caring that they were deleted into the thin air, leaving Ken alone in this vast desert. Ken was so shocked of all that he had witnessed that he didn't know what to do, and the hatred the digimon had showed to the emperor was too much for him to handle. He had imagined that he would possibly receive some sort of punishment after the end of the war, but the fact that he alone could inspire such hate and vengefulness...How could he had been such a terrific monster who had caused so much pain and suffering that the event he had just witnessed was considered justice by those fallen victims by his cruelty? It was...he couldn't find any words for it. He stood there alone in the middle of nowhere as he felt the familiar guilt and self-hate grow in his heart. Oh goodness, he just wanted all this to end. He wanted to be free from his sins and the stains of the blood that were on his hands.

"_Please, someone help me to be free from all this. Someone please give me atonement so that I can be free from this nightmare!_"

As he stood there, shocked beyond all wits, another figure came to his view. The figure bent down to pick up the emperor's glasses, and when he went up, Ken immediately recognized him and it caused his eyes to get even bigger in a bigger shock, since it was impossible the figure that stood in front of him was...

"Osamu..."

Indeed it was Ken's dead big brother Osamu that stood in front of him, seemingly as alive and well as he was before the car accident that took his life away. The fact that he was supposed to be dead didn't seem to bother Osamu at all, as when Ken said his name in wonder, Osamu looked at him with a kind smile on his face. A smile that Ken hadn't seen since he was a young kindergartener.

"I've come back to invite you to stay with me here, there you no longer have to suffer for the errors of your past."

Then Osamu stretched out his hand in an inviting gesture, obviously meant for Ken to take it.

"Your punishment is over. Trust me, I'm your brother. Take my hand Ken, and we'll be together forever." Osamu said to Ken with his kind smile still present on his face, encouraging Ken to take the hand he was offering to him.

"I can't get these visions out of my head. If I stay would you help me?" Ken asked to Osamu, who nodded in answer.

Ken felt an enormous happiness that he hadn't felt for ages. After all the pain and hardships, he finally saw a chance to be happy, to be free from everything. He walked to Osamu, his brother who came back to him just for him, to free him from the overwhelming guilt he had felt for a long time. He would accept Osamu's offer and he would finally be free from his sins, and then spend an eternity with his brother in peaceful bliss. As he neared Osamu, Ken felt his mouth bringing out the biggest smile he ever had, and his eyes tearing up in overwhelming happiness. As he was finally in front of his brother, who still had his hand stretched out to him, Ken couldn't help but ask...

"Where've you been?"

Then, as he was about to accept Osamu's hand, he said...

"I've missed you so long Osamu"

Ken was right about to take Osamu's hand when he heard a familiar voice calling out for him.

"Ken, can you hear me?"

Ken turned around his head to where that voice came from, and he saw another familiar figure who stood some few feets away behind him, and that figure was his digimon partner Wormmon.

"Wormmon, what're you doing here?" Ken asked his small partner. It wasn't that he didn't mind Wormmon's presence but during this important moment with Osamu, he had hoped that he would be alone with the brother he hadn't seen for years.

"I've come to bring you back Ken. The others are waiting for you"

"What others?"

"Well your friends of course. They're looking for you right now, and you've to meet up with them. They're worried sick for you" Wormmon answered, hoping that the mention of his human partner's friends would help him see through the illusion that was in front of him.

"But...what about my brother?" Ken asked rather anxious. He truly wanted to be with his friends, but this was the first time he had met his brother in years, and Osamu had promised him he would be with him forever if he accepted his offer, and Ken wanted to accept it, not only because Osamu promised redemption but also because of the likely large chance that if he walked away from Osamu right now, it would be the last time he ever saw him.

As if he could read Ken's thoughts, Wormmon told him...

"Do you plan to stay here forever, away from your friends and family? Don't you think it would hurt them if you rejected them in favour for the easy way out?"

Wormmon hoped that he would bring Ken out of this spiritual prison by bringing up his relationship with his friends and family, so that he would be reminded what he still had in the real world. Wormmon didn't dare to tell Ken that his brother in front of him was fake though since he was afraid that the harsh truth would traumatize Ken further than he already was, so he tried some other methods.

"I...I..." Ken tried to say something but he couldn't find any words.

"If it's atonement you want than staying here will not help you. You need to come back Ken, back to us. Only back with us can you find atonement. Staying here will not bring you anything but false satisfaction. Please come back with us so that we can help you" Wormmon said as he tried to reason with Ken as he didn't want Ken to live in a fake dream world for all time.

"But how can I find atonement back there? I had tried to find it there but I can't find it. It seems that I can only find more pain and suffering that is caused by me, so how can I go back? I'll only bring more evil to the worlds, and more pain to the innocents" Ken said to Wormmon, the familiar guilt once again replacing the happiness he just felt some minutes ago. How could he find redemption back there when it seemed that no matter he tried, he only caused more terrific deeds? Even if he was no longer the Digimon Emperor, darkness still found a way to use him as its weapon in its quest for domination, whatever if it was Arukenimon, Oikawa or Daemon that used him for their own needs.

"I know it's tough, and that it has been really tough for you, but you can't stay here. You'll never know anything that is good in life if you do. Please come back with me Ken, and we'll find your redemption together" Wormmon pleaded to Ken with a heart-hurting tone in his voice. He was now truly afraid that Ken wouldn't come back with him, and if he didn't than Wormmon would be nothing but a partner less digimon, alone in this large universe.

Ken shook his head with a sad smile before he with a pained tone said...

"I'm sorry Wormmon but there's nothing for me back there. Nothing but further pain for both me and everyone else. I can't do this no more Wormmon; I can no longer live with the blood that is on my hands, and I can no longer try to find atonement when there is none back there. I can no longer live with these nightmares that are in my head all the time. I'm sorry Wormmon but Osamu had promised me the redemption I can't find anywhere else, and if I reject him now than there's no hope for me. Please forgive me Wormmon but this's the only way. Please tell my friends that I'm sorry that I took the easy way out"

Ken then turned to face his brother, who still had his smile on his face and his hand stretched out for Ken, seemingly not bothered by the talk Ken and Wormmon had with each other. Ken then took Osamu's hand with his own, while he smiled at his brother with teary eyes that were filled with happiness for this moment...

...ignoring that as soon he took Osamu's hand, Osamu's kind smile twisted itself into a cruel smirk.

Wormmon quickly realized that the Osamu in front of Ken wasn't an illusion but a real thing...only that it wasn't the Osamu Ken knew but it was _him_ disguised as Osamu. Panic shot up in Wormmon as he immediately knew what _he_ planned to do next, and he ran toward Ken with his small legs, hoping to prevent what would come next.

"KEN, KEN, KEN!" Wormmon shouted to Ken several times as he ran in hope that Ken would let go in time.

But before he could do anything, everything around Wormmon became nothing but a blood red void, and he felt pain in his entire body. The last thing Wormmon heard in his short life was a cruel, sadistic chuckle.

* * *

They had ran for over ten minutes, which felt like hours, and still they hadn't found Ken. The fact that they hadn't found him by this point when everyone else were easy to catch caused Daisuke to nearly panic. He had a bad feeling about all this, and about Ken. As hard as he tried to look, he only saw more and more white endless space, and from what he could tell, the others were just as unlucky as him in finding Ken. All this whiteness started to irritate Daisuke. He didn't want some freaking white space to melt his eyes out, he wanted to find Ken and save him from that ugly freak's sick bloodlust. If the others were easy for him to find and bring out back to reality, than why the hell would it be so difficult when it was about Ken? He was the one who really needed to be saved; not from just that big psycho but also from the nightmare he probably was facing in his illusional prison.

In a flash so quick that Daisuke and his friends didn't have the time to ask, the white space they were in turned into a blood red light that cut through their eyes, which in turn forced them to close them as the blood red light had too much strength for them to remain open. When they opened their eyes, they saw that they were back in the strange dimension the battle began at. For Daisuke it was less than a welcoming sight; they suddenly came back here without they had freed his best friend first. He needed to go back to wherever that white space was. He needed to go back so that he could stop the worst possible thing to happen to...

"KEN?! KEN OH MY GOODNESS KEN!"

Daisuke turned his head around to see why the hell Miyako screamed after Ken so loudly, and when he saw why she screamed, he suddenly wished he hadn't. The sight that was before him caused his heart to stop and his blood to freeze as he watched in great shock of the event played right in front of him, not believing that it really was happening in front of his very own eyes.

The others were just as shocked and horrified as Daisuke when they saw what was happening in front of them, and they all reacted in different way, but still in denial and terror:

Miyako screamed and shouted in sheer terror of what she just witnessed, refusing to believe that this was really happening in front of her.

Hikari felt the tears that started to come to her eyes as she saw the whole thing, absolutely shocked beyond her system. She had never seen anything more awful thing than this, not even that made of the Dark Masters, and she tried to deny what she was watching, hoping that this was just a cruel nightmare that didn't really happen. It just couldn't have happen. It just couldn't. It wasn't supposed to end like this, they were supposed to get through this scot-free. Her heart broken and the tears finally sprung free, she clung to Takeru's shoulder in grief, unable to continuing watching further.

Iori was frozen like a statue absolutely horrified out of his wits. He too hadn't seen anything more awful thing than the event that was played right in front of him. In his short life he had been through several difficult things and had witnessed many horrifying atrocities; the murder of his dad, the rampages of Kimeramon, the battle against BlackWarGreymon, the Digimon invasion, Oikawa's tricks and manipulations, and the Daemon Corps' attacks and rampages, but never had he imagined that anything like _this_ would ever happen, and it was just too much for his young mind to grasp as he hyperventilated and shock in panic, and stuttered with a terrified tone...

"He...he..he did it. He...he did it, he did it. He ki...he ki...He is a monster, an absolute monster...how...how...why...why did he do it...why...why did he...how cruel can you...why did he do it?"

Takeru was just as shocked and horrified like everyone else when he saw the event, but unlike them, that shock and horror quickly turned into anger, the same anger that was born from his hatred to creatures like _that one_ in front of him; creatures that seemed to had been born only to cause death and destruction for no reason than to satisfy their own sick desires. Takeru bared his teeth in rage toward the _thing_ that in this moment had committed the worst crime ever had been made in his whole time in the Digidestined, and here he had though he had already seen the worst these creatures could bring. Apparently, he was wrong; this beat all the records, and it took Takeru all his willpower not to go into a rage as he breathed like an ox ready to charge and his eyes narrowed at the event. While he used all his discipline to not trying a reckless attack, he tried to comfort Hikari by rubbing her back, and he answered Iori's stuttering question, his voice drowned with barely sustained rage and hate.

"It's because he's a monster, the worst that ever has lived. He's a sick, twisted thing that shouldn't exist, that doesn't deserve to live. An overgrown computer virus that is nothing but scum, a creature of darkness who does nothing but bringing evil to everyone else just for their own sick amusement. Thats why he did it; because he's a sick, psychotic animal that should be shot in the head and its body left to rot"

The digimon stared at the event with the same amount of shock and horror just like their human partners. Hawkmon, Armadillomon and the several digievolved versions of Veemon stared in utter, silent shock of what they saw. Being rather recent recruits, they had never seen an event as disgusting and horrifying as this. Sure they had seen bad stuff before but never in _this_ calibre, and they were in complete denial of what they saw. When bad stuff happened before, they were always able to fix it in the end, but this time they knew it would never be fixed no matter how much they would try so they tried to deny what was happening, hoping in vain that this was just another illusion that was being played to them the same time it was played to their partners.

Patamon and Gatomon, the more experienced digimon, were just as repulsed by what they saw just like everyone else. Nothing they had been through before couldn't even compete with the event that was happening in right in front of them. Gatomon in particular had thought that she had seen every cruel and evil thing the universe could offer when she worked for her former master, but she was wrong. This was the most cruel and evil thing she ever had seen, and she could feel her stomach almost giving in to the sheer disgusting nature of the event, and only her self-discipline and pride made that she didn't throw up on the ground.

What was happening to cause such horror, panic and anger in the hearts and souls of the Digidestined and their partners? Well, what was happening was that MaloMyotismon once again did what he do best, and this time his victim was no other than the Digidestined of Kindness, Ken Ichijouji. With his right hand, MaloMyotismon had thrusted his claws deep in Ken's stomach, and now Ken's body hung loosely on MaloMyotismon's hand, his limbs hung unmovingly, his blood ran slowly to the ground, his entire being nothing but a dead corpse, never to be alive again.

The Digidestined were almost at a breaking point. Their friend, and not just any friend but one of the most kindest, polite and goodhearted beings around, had been killed like he was some mere animal, and they were in grief. Miyako, Hikari and even now Iori cried their eyes out, Takeru shook in rage, and Daisuke, Ken's own best friend, was in such deep shock that he barely was breathing. But the worst part was that MaloMyotismon could feel their broken emotions, and it made his heart beat in joy. He had finally hurt those pathetic insects into the deepest parts of their very beings. He had finally made them pay the ultimate prize for denying him the victory that he should have got years ago, and the pain it caused his enemies made him feel such gleeful happiness. But that wasn't enough; they would pay even more than just this.

Smirking his whole mouth full, and his eyes beamed with sickeningly glee, MaloMyotismon planned another way to hurt those weaklings even further and then he, for no reason than to spite the Digidestined, twisted his right hand around inside Ken's body, causing blood to gush like a fountain, which started to paint the floor red. Then MaloMyotismon, like a child with his birthday present, pulled his right hand back with all his strength and with it, he ripped out half of Ken's intestines, with a sickingly, gushing sound that could be heard with it. This act caused Miyako to scream in sheer terror and Hikari to clinging to Takeru even harder, their hearts and souls completely crushed, and Gatomon to finally lose her lunch. She had never seen her former master acting at such more horrifying way before and this was too much for her nerves to take. The others, even Takeru, just stared completely wordlessly and their faces were ghostly pale, all of them traumatized beyond all limits. This was something that would hunt them for the rest of their lives.

MaloMyotismon, however, was in completely different mood. This was the most satisfying day in his life, and he never had been more happier. Everything had gone so well for him and, despite some few, petty setbacks, he could practically taste victory in his mouth. His former pawn was dead, and his petty friends' hearts were crushed and they stood there like scared sheeps waiting for slaughter. Oh he sure would slaughter them all alright, just the same way he slaughtered the former emperor. He breathed wistfully as his eyes took in their frighened appearences, enjoying every second of the fear, shock and tears that just radiated out of them. It was excitning near orgasmic levels to see the terror in the eyes of Azulongmon's puppets, and MaloMyotismon became so excited that he suddenly started to laugh. He laughed an enormous laughter that sang an evil that could only be found in the most corrupt beings. An evil that promised nothing but endless pain and bloodshed, a darkness that surpressed even that of the Dark Ocean. MaloMyotismon laughed like he never had laughed before. He had won, yes he had truly won. The worlds were his for the taking, and there was nothing anybody could do about it, neither those scared witless brats in front of him or anyone else.

The Digidestined and their partners were overwhelmed by how far everything had gone. Their friend was dead and they were locked up in this strange, spooky world along with a psychopathic vampire with nowhere to run. That monster's loud laughter cut through their souls like hot knifes cutting through butter, and absolute terror was all they felt, and not just fear terror but actual, primal, _sheer_ terror that only such monstrous evil could inspire. This...this had to be just a terrible nightmare. All this couldn't just happen? It was just impossible that all this really had happened. This was all just a nightmare born from the most creepest parts of their imaginating fantasies and soon they would wake up on their beds. Wake up and see that everything had been worked out, with Ken still alive and the worlds free from the darkness, and they wanted to wake up NOW! They didn't want to be here anymore. They wanted to be at home and out of all this. They wanted to be safe with their families, safe in the arms of their parents, away from all the traumatic events that they had been forced to bear witness. Events that no one, and specially not young children that weren't even near adolescence, should ever see in their lives. But no matter how much they tried to deny everything and wished to get away, they all knew that they couldn't escape from this, and so they stood there completely terrified beyond all rational thoughts, all their wills gone.

Daisuke Motomiya, however, was the only one able to gathering enough courage, though only barely, to finally speak something, though it was barely audible.

"You bastard. You killed Ken"

"Sorry. Can't hear you with the blood dripping on the floor. Drip, drip, haha" MaloMyotismon answered as he stopped laughing, perfectly able to hear the brat's words but he wanted to spite him even further.

"YOU BASTARD! YOU KILLED KEN, AND THERE'S ONLY ONE THING I'VE TO SAY TO YOU, AND THAT'S YOU'RE DEAD!" Daisuke shouted with all the rage he was feeling inside toward that creature that had butchered his best friend like a pig. The others shot up their eyes at Daisuke as soon they heard him screaming his hatred toward MaloMyotismon. Never had they seen Daisuke acting like this...wild before, and honestly, they all had thought that he wasn't capable to feel any hate at all, specially the kind that he showed now. He had never showed it before; as he was always the one who showed most friendliness and was the most easy-going; not even toward their other enemies in this war, and to seeing him acting like this caused the Digidestined and their partners to be even more speechless. One thing was curtain; none of them could stop Daisuke from charging against the monster that had caused so much pain and death as he ran right toward MaloMyotismon, determined to revenge Ken's death with his bare hands.

MaloMyotismon was also taken by surprise when Daisuke screamed at him. Mostly because he thought that he had finally broke the spirits of those brats, and seeing one of them still had some fight in him wasn't exactly what he had hoped for, no less the sheer hatred that was controlling the boy like a crazed animal that had nothing to lose. The boy really was going to take him down with nothing but his puny hands?

Then MaloMyotismon smirked. The boy wanted to fight him well that was just good. That brat had been nothing but a pain in his tail for the last hour as he had tried to deny the victory that was already his. Now he would finally teach that brat some manner just the same way he had done before to those pathetic failures of minions he used to had when he invaded the human world for the first time.

"So you were strong enough to resist my Mental Illusion attack, and now you want to see if you're strong enough to take me down by yourself? HA, I LIKE THAT!"

"DAISUKE, DON'T BE A FOOL!" ExVeemon screamed as he flew toward the boy, hoping to stop him before he would suffer the same fate as Ken did. One death was one too many already, and he wouldn't allow Daisuke to commit suicide.

MaloMyotismon heard ExVeemon's cry and he looked up to the dragon digimon. When he did it, his smirk turned into a teeth-bearing sneer. That mis-coloured, overgrown lizard had been a pain to him just like his brat of a "partner", and he wasn't about to let that ugly reptile ruining his fun this time, so MaloMyotismon picked up the already cold, gored corpse of the former emperor and then he threw it right at the flying freak, hoping it would be enough to stop him dead...enough for him to give that brat a lession in manners.

ExVeemon flew as fast as he could in order to reach for Daisuke, but then he saw that monster picking up Ken's body and then threw it as if it was just a useless thing. ExVeemon couldn't allow this monster desecrating Ken furthur than he already he had done, so he stratched out his muscular arms to catch Ken's body in the midair.

That blue freak caught the corpse, and the few seconds he wasted to wait for it was all MaloMyotismon needed. He looked down and saw that the brat still ran toward him ready to deliver his revenge for his little friend. MaloMyotismon shook his head in disbelief with his smirk back on his lips; the brat was so insignificent compared to him. So small, and the brat really thought that he could beat him in a fist fight? And to believe that the brat's species once ruled everything...pathetic.

"Come here, I'll give you a free shot" MaloMyotismon said. Then he lowered himself to Daisuke's level and put his right cheek for the boy to punch. MaloMyotismon was confident that all the brat would bring to him was some dull awareness that he had been hit by that puny fist...so imaginate his surprise that once Daisuke punched right at MaloMyotismon's cheek, he felt real pain in his jaw. Pain that was enough to causing MaloMyotismon to shoot up and scream loudly.

"_Dammit that really hurt! Damn that kid! Damn that freaking, insignificent, little worm! I must take him out before he figures out how this dimension works_" MaloMyotismon thought as he held his cheek with his claws.

Breathing slowly in order to dull the pain, MaloMyotismon looked down at Daisuke with rage in his eyes and a sneer on his lips.

"Nice one boy. Here's my shot" MaloMyotismon said with a cold voice and after that, he pulled up his right arm in the air and then he slamed it with all his strength right at Daisuke, causing the boy to fly across the dimension in a fast speed.

Daisuke flew in a very fast speed, and it looked that he soon would hit the wall. And when he did, it would likely kill the young boy immediately. Fortunately, Flamedramon jumped up in the air to catch Daisuke, but when he caught Daisuke in his arms, Flamedramon was pulled with him by the strong force and two-three seconds later his back hit the wall. The impact caused massive pain to shoot up in Flamedramon's body and he would have screamed his lungs out if he wasn't winded by the impact. Flamedramon couldn't breath no matter he tried despite the pain, and as he tried and failed to get air he started to panic. It wasn't better that blood came out of his mouth, and now he was really scared that he would soon die. When he landed on the floor, his entire body shook by both pain and panic. After some few seconds, which felt like hours, Flamedramon was able to breath again, and his seizure stopped but the pain was still in him, and Flamedramon curled himself in and rocked himself for-and-backward as he hoped it would lesser the pain, while he tried to hold the tears inside his eyes and the blood inside his mouth.

When they hit the wall, Daisuke also felt pain he never had felt before, became winded as well, and when he tried to breath again he couldn't gain any air. Since Flamedramon was the one who took most of the force of the impact, Daisuke was spared of any permanent damages but his body still became wounded, and as he landed on the floor, he felt taste of blood on his mouth and his limbs hurt when he tried to move them. When he was able to breath again, it hurt as well unless he did it slowly. Also his head was pounding inside like a hammer, making him feel like he would vomit or pass out anytime soon. But Daisuke being Daisuke, he decided to remain defiant, and through his pain and illness, he succeeded to speak up against his enemy.

"Good...he...can be...hurt...we still...can...beat him...defeat...him"

MaloMyotimon shook his head and chuckled to himself in amusement. He had to hand it to the boy: in just one hour he had shown to possess more guts than all his friends, their digimon pets and even the Sovereigns put together.

"I must admit that I'm impressed by your tenacity. You're truly the wolf among this pack of dogs" MaloMyotismon said as he waved his left arm toward the others, who still stood at the same place still scared out of their wits.

"So I guess that I must break that tenacity. Now you'll witness your friend's death once more, and not just one time, but over and over and over again without an end. You'll be forever cursed to see the blood of your friend spilled in front of your eyes. Mental Illusion!" MaloMyotismon said, and then he attacked with his dreaded attack, but instead of white lights that came out like the last time, blood-red beams shot out of his eyes, and instead of hitting all of the Digidestined, they hit only Daisuke, who as soon he was hit became uncounscious. The digievolved forms of Veemon disappeared into the thin air, except for ExVeemon, who digidevolved back to DemiVeemon, dropping Ken's body in the progress, and landed on the floor, too weak and tired to move.

"Stupid boy" MaloMyotismon said and then he chuckled in amusement of everything that had happened thanks to that brat.

The others had looked at the scene with both fright and horror. When Daisuke ran toward MaloMyotismon in a rage, they all had been too afraid to stop him, not just of MaloMyotismon's sadism, but also of Daisuke's rage, which they never had seen before. To see Daisuke, the most easy-going guy/human they ever had met, so angry so that he went berserk like an angry honey badger charging at an elephant, revealing a darker side of himself that was enough bloodthristy and hatefilled to harm even the most monstrous enemy they ever had faced, had shocked them to the core. There was more in Daisuke than what they saw everyday, and to tell the truth, they didn't like what they had just witnessed.

And then MaloMyotismon retaliated, another fear had sprung free inside them; the fear that Daisuke would face the same fate as Ken. When they saw him fly across the dimension about to hit the wall they wanted to scream and jump after him in order to catch him like Flamedramon did but they didn't since they had been too shocked to actually do it, and when they both hit wall, they all had been disgusted by the blood that came from their mouths, Flamedramon's seizure, the sound of cracked bones, etc. They wanted to get by Daisuke's side and help him at that point, despite their fear for his darker side, but they were too cowardly to do so, and now the boy was stuck in his own nightmare, forced to watch whatever goodness knew what.

However, in Takeru something else started to grow inside him. As shocked and horrified like everyone else he was, he had watched what had happened and he saw it right there; Daisuke had actually hurt MaloMyotismon. Indeed, when Daisuke had punched his small fist right at MaloMyotismon's cheek, it had been enough to caused the monster to scream loudly in pain, despite that he was a mega-leved digimon fuled by the Dark Spores, and Daisuke a twelve-year old boy. It became clear: MaloMyotismon wasn't invincible as they had thought. Powerful, yes. Invincible, no. He could be hurt...and that meant that he could be defeated.

For the first time for a long time, Takeru felt hope. Yes, that monster in front of him could be defeated. They could win this battle. It would be hard yes, but there was a chance. They could revenge Ken's death and put an end to this overgrown computer virus's dreams of supremacy, and finally bring peace to the worlds. If Daisuke could defy that monster right at his ugly face, so could they.

"Guys we must fight him. We must do it or we'll lose and everything we had fought for will be in vain"

"But Takeru, how can we do it? He's too powerful for us" Iori said to Takeru.

Takeru looked at Iori, and he immediately didn't like what he saw. Seeing the endless fear in the usually stoic and controlled kid's eyes, and his legs that shook massivly told Takeru the seriousness of the sistuation and how far things truly had gone to hell. But he wouldn't let that stop him now.

"Not too powerful. You saw it, he was hurt by Daisuke's punch, and that prove that while he might be tough, he ain't invincible, and we can beat him if we do our hardest. If Daisuke almost broke his jaw with nothing but his own fist, than we together can do him in. We can wipe him out if we fight now. If we don't than all we had fought for will be in vain. Everthing Ken, Daisuke, Wormon and Veemon fought for will be in vain. We got to do this, for Ken. For Wormmon. For Veemon. For Daisuke...For our friends" Takeru answered Iori with all the passion he brought out in hope it would motivate them all. They had to fight, for both Ken and Daisuke and their partners. Daisuke had proved that they could fight on even with their bare hands if they had to, and he would be damned if he let that monster win this war by simply walking through them.

Patamon, Takeru's digimon partner, had taken Takeru's words to heart and, the loyal partner as he was, decided to be at Takeru's side in this battle and make sure that their friends' sacrifices wouldn't be in vain.

"For our friends" he said, repeating his partner's encouragement to everyone while he sat on Takeru's head.

"Yes, for our friends" Hikari also said. The day had been overwhelming for her and she almost had gave up the fight when she saw MaloMyotismon swap Daisuke away as if he was a house fly, but her best friend had now reminded her of why she fought as a Digidestined; she fought to keep the worlds safe from monsters like MaloMyotismon. To keep the people safe from bloodshed and evil. To defend peace and prosperity from all sorts of dangers that wanted to destroy them.

To defend her friends and family from the darkness that was now threatening them and every being that lived on the two worlds.

Ken and Wormmon already had paid the ultimate prize, Veemon was wounded, and Daisuke had recieved physical and mental painful punishment which no one should recieve, specially not him, and it was enough. They would stop the monster that had caused so much pain so that even Satan of the Christian religion himself would be shocked of, and finally stop his megalomania from harming another living being.

Despite that she made a mess on the floor, Gatomon felt that more would come soon. Never had she felt such panic and terror before, and that included her early servitude to that monster. When that _thing_ killed Ken as if he was just a rat, it reminded her of Wizardmon's death, and the old feelings of shock, fear, grief and uselessness came back with a vengeance, and when she saw Daisuke ran toward the monster with the intend to kill, she wanted to scream at the boy to not let his emotions control him and _think for a goddamned second_ of what he ran toward to. As much she found Daisuke annoying and obnoxious, she didn't want him to die such gruesome death as well, and she would even run toward him and force him down on the ground if she wasn't too spineless to just stare and lose control of her own nerves.

Though she doubted that she would actually have the backbone to stop Daisuke when he showed such hatefilled rage since it wasn't just terrifying to see but it also reminded her for her past self: a creature that let its own darkness control it like a savage animal, going loose on things that was in the way. A creature that was almost literally controlled by its own hate, and because of its hate was a creature only meant for war, death and revenge. That was a side she wanted to be as far as possible from now that she was free from it, and seeing Daisuke basically becoming the bloodthristy animal she once was was...too much. For the first time in her life, she actually feared Daisuke and she was afraid that he would become worse when he wake up from whatever mental torture he recieved from her former master, the one who created the same beast that controlled Daisuke the same way it once controlled her.

But then she heard Takeru's encouragement, and yes what he said was true; Daisuke had actually hurt MaloMyotismon. He, a human kid, had hurt something that even ultimate and mega digimon found it difficult to do. So maybe...there was a chance. A chance to finally put her former master down for good.

Yes, they could do it. They could defeat this monster that had taken her friends away for no reason other than petty sadism. For all his talk of mighty powers and his supreme rule, in the end of the day he was just a crazed killer that needed some medication. Yes, they would win this battle. They had won before and they could win again, and if a human kid almost cracked that freak's jaw open than she would blaste him to kingdom come, and this time for real.

"For our friends" Gatomon said enthusiastically, her earlier illness gone with the wind.

Iori and Miyako, the least experienced Digidestined, were scared witless of everything they had seen. During their time in the Digital World, they had believed that their jobs as the Digidestined were something excitning, something to do during their free times. Sure, in their first time in the Digital World they had been scared of the battle they fought in against the Digimon Emperor's slaves, but thanks to their new partners and the older Digidestined, they conquered their fear for danger and accepted their destiny as the protectors of the Digital World. As time went on, things started to get more challenging, and they did get second thoughts some couple of times but they fought through the hardships, and slowly they started to believe themselves rather untouchable. No matter how tough their enemies were, they were never able to finish Miyako, Iori or anyone else off, and they were always defeated in the end. Iori and Miyako had started to believe that their partners would always guard them and keep them safe from any lethal harm, no matter how powerful their enemies were, or how much they would try to kill them.

So when MaloMyotismon tored Ken apart it had brutally reminded them of their mortality, that they could never be guarded from death, and that death didn't care if they were children. In the end they were not special beings but weak mammals that could die any time soon, and only through luck they had survived this far. Ken was the most intelligent Digidestined and yet that didn't help him one bit when death came for him because when death wants something, it just takes it.

Needless to say, the cruel reality had hit Iori and Miyako in the face like a speeding car hitting a brick wall. They couldn't deny it anymore, this Digidestined job wasn't funny anymore. They wanted to get out, back to their families, to safety. They didn't want to die, they wanted to live. They didn't want to end up like Ken: butchered like pigs in the slaughterhouse.

But they couldn't get out, and it was only a matter of time before they would face death themselves.

And so their fear had nailed them to the ground, refusing them the will to do anything but staring in terror at the monster and his deeds.

But when they heard Takeru's encouragement, something inside them started to slowly push away their fear of death. As Takeru and the others found themselves the will to fight on, they as well slowly found it, and then they did it.

They had found courage.

Yes, they had found their own courage to fight on, not just for their own lives but for the lives of everyone else. They could fight on. They _had_ to fight on, or else everything they had done would be in vain.

If they gave up now than endless darkness would rule over the worlds, and everyone - every human and digimon - would suffer a living nightmare with no end. They couldn't allow that, and as Takeru spread his hope to them, they caught it and it gave them the will to push back their fear of death in order to stop death from winning. Ken had already paid with his life for their struggle, and they wouldn't let his sacrifice be in vain, nor Daisuke's. They would win this battle and put an end to this madness that had caused so much pain and destruction.

"For our friends" they said, ready to repay their friends' sacrifice with their own if they had to, as so long it would stop evil from winning.

Armodillomon and Hawkmon quickly chattered the same words, ready to fight one last time before all this would be over.

MaloMyotismon looked at the brat's unconscious body with amusement. That brat just didn't know when to stop and accept who was the winner and the rightful ruler of all. Oh well, that was something he should have counted for since it was always that _someone_ who just had to be too thick-headed to accept defeat, and would still fight on despite being outclassed on all fronts. But no matter; the brat was out of the game and by the time he would wake up, he had already taken his rightful place as the ruler of both the Human and the Digital World, and the brat would be nothing but a weak schizophrenic, forever hunted by his visions and nightmares that could break even the strongest minds.

And that before _they_ would finally arrive and spice the brat's insanity to vegetable levels before he would be put out of his misery.

MaloMyotismon heard some chatter that came not from far. He turned around his head to see what the hell that chatter was, and he saw the other brats and their pets. They chattered something to each other, and from what MaloMyotismon saw it wasn't based from fear. Infact, they didn't look afraid at all, and that wasn't a good sign. The last time MaloMyotismon checked, they were all terrified beyond all limits, and the possibility that they were conquering that terror didn't suit his goals. The brat already had denied his victory too long, and MaloMyotismon wasn't in the mood to let the other brats do the same.

He finally heard what exactly they chattered about: they chattered about their pathetic friends in an attempt to inspire themselves.

How could it be? The former emperor was nothing but a cold, pale, ripped corpse just waiting for the maggots to feast on, and the brain-dead brat was knocked out by him by just one punch and then literally by a blink of his eyes, so how could they suddenly become inspired by their failures? They were supposed to beg and cry for the mercy they would never recieve, not suddenly become brave enough to fight the inevitable.

Damn that brat, his defiance must had inspired them to fight as well. It wasn't better that the brat's wish for revenge had made it possible for him to use the power of this dimension to actually _hurt_ him as if he was only a rookie-leved runt.

The Digidestined and their partners then turned around to face him, their faces hardened by determination and defiance. They would actually fight him, despite that they had witnessed his might first-hand.

"And for our friends, we'll defeat you, and make you pay for all the pain and suffering you had brought! We'll beat you, and you'll be deleted like the overgrown computer virus that you're! Do you hear that you freak?! We'll beat you up just like the last time, and this time we'll be sure you remain dead forever!"

MaloMyotismon immediately knew who the other defiant, screaming brat was. It was the Digidestined of Hope, one of that overgrown worm Azulongmon's little, precious _favorites_. The same one who killed Devimon in a bright explosion, which was a shame since Devimon, despite that he was a champion, was a prodigy and one of the most cunning digimon that had ever lived. Not to mention that Devimon gave him the inspiration to create the Dark Towers and the Dark Rings for the emperor to use. And now this boy thought he could kill him as well.

"You and what army, boy?" MaloMyotismon asked with a smirk on his lips, unimpressed by the blonde brat's seemingly empty threats.

"With this army!" Takeru answered, and then they all lifted their digivices, which now shone with bright lights, and before they all knew it, the digimon had digievolved to their stronger forms. What took the Digidestined with surprise was that their partners had not only digievolved to their strongest forms, but to _all_ their forms, and that included their armor, champion and ultimate forms, not just their DNA-digievolved forms. It was just like Veemon when he apparentely digievolved to both ExVeemon, Flamedramon and Raidramon at the same time.

The Digidestined were perhaps surprised of their partners' sudden ability to digievolve to all their forms, but they were happy enough to not ask questions. They now had a greater chance to win this battle.

MaloMyotismon's smirk had disappeared when all the possible digievolved forms of those pests made entrence, and a frown had replaced the smirk on its place.

"_You just had to ask that, didn't you?_" MaloMyotismon's mind asked him, and he agreed that something of this nature would happen if he let his mouth had its way.

Takeru, while surprised, was also elated to see that Patamon had not only digievolved to Angemon, and then DNA-digievolved with Ankylomon to Shakkoumon, but also he had somehow digievolved to form both Angemon and MagnaAngemon alongside Shakkoumon, and he wasn't only one. From Iori's side he saw Digmon, Submarimon and Ankylomon. From Miyako's side he saw Halsemon, Shurimon, Aquilamon and Silphymon, and from Hikari's side, he saw Nefertimon and Angewomon. In other words, he actually saw an army of digimon ready to fight by their side.

Takeru then looked at MaloMyotismon, and he didn't see any surprise at all on his face. Annoyance and anger, yes but not surprise, which caused Takeru to feeling rather suspicious, but he didn't have the time to ask questions. He could do that later when they had beaten this freak back to the pit there he belonged.

"Everyone, attack!" Takeru shouted and all the digimon immediately charged their attacks at MaloMyotismon, who sneered at their charging forms. He didn't have the time to curse or whatever he planned to say before his body received all forms of attacks, which brought MaloMyotismon a lot of pain that caused him to scream in agonizing rage.

MaloMyotismon was pissed off. This was not supposed to happen in his plans. He was supposed to be already the ruler of both the human world and the digital world, not standing here taking hits by all those parasites that just refused to accept defeat. Thats it! He had to get out of here before those brats would realize this world's full potential and use it to their advantage. Hell, they were already using it, and if he didn't get out soon he would be done for.

He had to get to the Digital World. The darkness was likely already rooted deep into the world by now, and only there would he be powerful enough to destro..no, completely annihilate these parasites for good.

Biting through the pain he felt due to the attacks that refused to stop hitting him, MaloMyotismon aimed his shoulder-mouth at the wall of this dimension and, though with great difficulty, charged up energy for his attack.

"SCREAMING DARKNESS!"

MaloMyotismon's shoulder-mouths opened up and out came large, heavily powered bolts of dark energy that shot foward the wall with a fast speed. The fact that he had turned around to fire his attack at the wall, and not toward them in self-defence caused the digimon partners to stop their combained attacks and look in surprise at where the bolts hit, as well did the Digidestined.

When the smoke cleared from where the bolts hit, they saw that MaloMyotismon's attack had created a hole on the wall of this dimension. A hole that led to another world.

The Digidestined and their partners looked at the hole with wonder and surprise, thinking that it was so against all laws of nature, even by the standards of this world, of the ability to open a hole to another world by simply blasting the wall of this world. MaloMyotismon, however, felt elated that his gambit had paid off. Finally, his fortune started to shine.

MaloMyotismon turned his head toward the surprised Digidestined and their equally surprised partners, and with a grin on his lips, he said to them...

"I'll see you pests later."

And before they could answer, MaloMyotismon ran toward the hole in such fast speed that seemed impossible for him to run with all that bulk. In less of a blink of an eye, he had ran through the hole and disappeared into the other world.

After they spent some few seconds blinking in surprise, Takeru shook his head and caught back his compulsion. His face hardened by determination, he turned to his friends and started to talk to them with a willful voice.

"Guys, we've to follow that freak. We can't let him escape, now that we're near victory. We got to finish him off once for all, so come on. Lets go!" Takeru said and was about to run toward the hole when he felt someone take hold of his arm. Takeru turned around and saw that Hikari held his arm, and looked at him with a worried expression.

"But what about Daisuke? We can't just leave him here. What if something happens to him?" Hikari said to Takeru, since she was worried about the goggle-wearing boy. If they left him here in this strange place, anything could happen to him, and he was already trapped in whatever spiritual prison MaloMyotismon locked him in so he would be undefendable from anything else. She didn't ask about Ken since it was already obvious that Ken was...her heart would be completely broken if something familiar happened to Daisuke just because they left him in his time of need.

"We got to do it Hikari. If we don't stop that monster now than more people will suffer. I'm sorry Hikari but this's our only chance and we must take it before it's too late." Takeru said to Hikari with a regretful voice. He too didn't want to leave Daisuke here in this weird place, but it they didn't follow MaloMyotismon now than maybe it would be too late, and the sacrifice Daisuke had paid would be for nothing.

"Beside, Daisuke is a tough guy. He'll be okay while we do our part. If he could take a punch from a mega-leved digimon and live, than he can survive anything. I promise, once we're done with MaloMyotismon, we'll go back and tend to Daisuke hmm" Takeru said with a more hopeful tone, hoping it would calm Hikari's worries. They were already dealing with enough worries right now.

"Okay, I'll go with you. I just hope that he'll be okay when we come back" Hikari said, though she still looked somewhat worried.

"Ok, someone else who want to say anything?" Takeru asked his other friends.

No one said anything.

"Good, now lets go" he said, and they all ran or flew toward the hole with adrenaline pumping their bodies up, ready to win this war once and for all.

* * *

Two minutes after they had passed through the hole, something started to groan in pain as it tried to move its weak limbs. That something was no other than Daisuke Motomiya. Yes, the boy had through sheer force of will alone freed himself from MaloMyotismon's Mental Illusion, but it still had made its scars. What Daisuke saw would forever hunt him through the rest of his life, since what he had witnessed was something of great, repulsive nature. Something that even the strongest minds would shatter of by the trauma the illusion created in the young boy's mind, but that wasn't what he thought off right now.

Wounded both physically and mentally, Daisuke dragged his brusied body to there his best friend now laid. Any movement, any breath, any _thought_ caused massive pain to shoot up in Daisuke's body, and it was only thanks to his famous determination that he didn't pass out of exhaustion and pain.

After some great difficulty, Daisuke was finally near Ken, and he, while ignoring the red liquid that not only painted the floor red but also now painted his clothes red, the big hole on Ken's stomach and what was left of his intestinces that hung out of it and the coppery smell that made its way to his nose, took hold of Ken's cold hand.

"Ken...K...en...Keee...n...Keenn...K...K...Ken" Daisuke rasped with his weak voice while he shook Ken's hand in hope that maybe - just maybe - that Ken was alive and would answer him any moment soon.

But it was futile. Ken would never answer him. Would never ask him any question, would never answer him any of his own question, would never help him with his homework, never play soccer with him, never help him with his problems, never hang out with him in the internet café or the movie store, never join with him and the others to the beach, never fight by his side against the resent threat.

Never would any of that ever happen again. Ken was dead, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

But Daisuke still tried, denying the truth that was in right in front of him, but it didn't last. His strength running off, Daisuke was able to mouth one last time.

"Ken"

And then unconsciousness fell over him, the nightmares ready to torture him some more.

* * *

Author's notes: The wise men of the ancient times once said "In order to write a great fanfic, you've to start with one single page." And thats is what I just did right now. By releasing this first chaper I hope that it'll be the start to the fanfic I had in my head for quite some time, and I hope it'll be an epic and great one as well. Something that readers from all across the globe will find enjoyment and excitment from when they read it. If they enjoyed this first chapter than I think I took the right, first step to the road toward great storytelling, and I really hope that the readers will comment and review the fanfic as it goes.

Please pay attention that since English ain't my first language, there might be some grammar issues. In case of it I want to remind you that I really tried to fix them for nearly a month, reading through the chapter for like 5-6 times, narrowing my eyes to the screen, sometimes doing so in the middle of the night and checking out on wiktionary and translation websites countless times for the correct grammar and translation, but this is how far I think my knowledge of English will go (if only Swedish was the global dominant language...) but if you find any grammar fault, please tell me where it is and how it should be written so that I can fix it quickly.


	2. MaloMyotismon's Triumph

The Digidestined and their partners ran or flew through the hole, and into the other world MaloMyotismon had escaped to. The world they came to was rocky and stony, and huge cliffs surrounded them from both right and left side. The ground beneath their feet was narrowed between the cliffs, and it was made of harden sand. But what was really strange was the darkness that held everything in a tight grip. The sky, the clouds, the cliffs, the sand, everything were pitch black, and it creeped the Digidestined out. What the hell was this world? Was this the Dark Ocean? Well, they couldn't see any ocean so it couldn't be, but it might have been. The darkness was dominant here, and it disturbed the Digidestined out with its colourless existence, its cold fingers causing the creeps to run through their spines.

"Where're we?" Miyako asked fearfully. She didn't know where she was, but she didn't like it here. The darkness frightened her out, and made her feel like a young child lost in a dark forest, hunted by bloodthristy predators just waiting in the darkest corners for her to eat up.

"I...I think we're in the Digital World" Iori answered. It might be weird, but he got this feeling that told him that they'd arrived to the Digital World, which had gone through some massive transformation while they fought in their own world.

"What do you mean we're in the Digital World?" Miyako asked Iori. How the hell could they be in the Digital World, with all this darkness around? Darkness that she felt, despite how weird it might be, wasn't a force ruled by the laws of physics, but something alive that bore its invisible eyes at them in this moment.

"I don't know how, but something tells me that we're in the Digital World right now" Iori answered Miyako.

The others were taken aback by Iori's answer before they turned their eyes to the world in front of them. So this was the Digital World, and the darkness had made a number on it. It was breathtaking seeing the once beautiful world twisted into something perverted and disgusting version of its former self. The Digidestined couldn't find any word to describe what they felt right now of seeing the bleeding wounds of the Digital World.

Takeru turned his head around to their partners, and he saw that the digimon were now less than they were in that strange world they just left. While most of the digievolved forms of their partners were gone, he saw that at least Shakkoumon, Silphymon, MagnaAngemon and Angewomon were still with them. Takeru was surprised when he saw MagnaAngemon and Angewomon with the others, and the question why became another question of the already overfilled basket of questions. This day had been strange, even more than usual.

"Hey look. All the other digimon have disappeared" Takeru said to the other Digidestined, who then turned their heads to their partners. When they saw their digimon partners, they became somewhat dishearted by how few of the digimon were left. When they ran toward the hole in that weird dimension, they'd an army of digimon that was powerful enough to force MaloMyotismon to retreat, but now only with a few of them left, their chances to victory seemed to be once again slim.

"Well, at least things are somewhat normal" Iori said dishearted.

"They'd have been more normal if Ken and Daisuke were here" Hikari said in a low tone. She still was hurt by the tragedy that happened inside that dimension the battle began at, and she was trying to keep herself from breaking down as the reminder of what happened twisted its ugly claws inside her head.

Aware that his best friend, and likely everyone else, would soon fall into a depression, Takeru quickly asked his digimon partner, MagnaAngemon, one of the main questions he'd in his head.

"MagnaAngemon, how come you and the rest of you digievolved to all those forms? Shouldn't it be impossible for you to do that?" he asked, not neccesary because he wanted to know the answer right now, but mostly because he wanted to keep himself and his friends from remembering Ken's brutal death. The last thing they needed in this fight was that memory playing all over inside their heads.

"I don't know. I was also surprised when that happened. I think that maybe that dimension had a role in it; that world obviously has some strange powers, and I think that you used those powers to make us digievolve to all our forms the same way Myotismon used them to digievolve to MaloMyotismon, and Daisuke used them to make Veemon digievolve to his armor forms alongside ExVeemon" MagnaAngemon answered Takeru...though through his strong bond with Takeru, he could tell that Takeru didn't ask that question because he really wanted to know the answer, but because he wanted to keep his mind away from that aweful murder that butcher committed.

"Don't forget that Daisuke also used those powers to hurt MaloMyotismon with his bare hands" Angewomon reminded MagnaAngemon and the Digidestined. However, her reminder also reminded her on how afraid she was as Gatomon when she saw Daisuke do the said act, and she could feel that old fear returning to her. A chill went through her back as she remembered that unpleasent event.

"_Well things ain't gonna be that easy now that we're in the Digital World_" Takeru thought to himself.

Suddenly, a loud laughter cut through the dark landscape, and the Digidestined and their partners quickly had their eyes and ears searching everywhere for anything that might come.

"Children!" a loud voice said behind the right cliff at the narrow path. Then MaloMyotismon himself came around the corner, calmingly walking as if he'd all the time in the world(s) without any care of the enemies that stood before him. Then he stopped and faced the Digidestined and their partners, and none of them missed the elated smirk that was plastered on his face.

"Welcome children..." MaloMyotismon said as he spread his arms outward to his sides, doing a melodramatic pose like a Christian pastor doing his sermon, as if he wanted to show off the darkness that surrounded them.

"...to the future of all that exist!" he finished while he also looked around at the dark sky as if he wanted to make his point clear.

"Haha the darkness has already spread and it's only a matter of time before it'll consume the entire Digital World and all those on it that will refuse to accept it as their new dominant force"

"Not if we can stop you!" Takeru shouted defiantly to MaloMyotismon, who just chuckled at the blond boy's remark.

"Fool! Don't you understand?! The time of darkness has begun, and all those that stands in its way will be crushed by its might! Anyone who tried to defeat the darkness had either been destroyed by it, or corrupted by it! You children are no different, and just because you hide behind those weak, slavish pets of yours, you think you can defy the inevitable?!" MaloMyotismon said to Takeru, not at all impressed by that blond brat's weak attempt to play the hero.

"Well we did that before, and we beat you the last time you tried to help the darkness, so why do you think you'll win this time?!" Takeru shouted back to that monster which disgusted him with its pride of being a slave to the darkness.

"You won only because of sheer luck that came in the last moment when your lives hung to the last thread! But I'm in a generous mood today so I'll give you a chance to prove you full strength! Show me that you're just as strong as your goggle-wearing friend...or as weak as my former pawn!" MaloMyotismon challenged and chuckled. Then he rose his arms up to the air and suddenly, dark energy from all sides was gathering around him, and he was becoming bigger by the powers of darkness. As his size was growing, he laughed a loud laughter as he was simming in his arrogance and self-confidence that doubled by the darkness he sucked in.

"Look, he's getting bigger!" Iori shouted in surprise, but no one had the time to say something back because suddenly, Hikari screamed. They all turned their heads to her in worry, and they saw Hikari holding her head as if she was in pain. Her eyes were closed, her back hunched and she looked extremely terrified by something.

"Hikari, what's wrong?!" Angewomon shouted to Hikari. She became worried for her partner when Hikari reacted like she was in pain.

"The darkness...I can feel it! It's comming!" Hikari answered, extremely terrified by what she felt...and what she heard. She could hear _them_ from the depth of the darkness, and _they_ called for her. _They _told her things she didn't want to hear, and showed her things she didn't want to see. _They_ wanted her to give herself up to them. _They _demanded her to give herself up to them. _They _told her it was futile to resist, and she was panicking by everything she felt and heard from the darkness. She was about to break down by the overwhelming darkness when suddenly, it disappeared. She opened her eyes, and she saw her friends looking at her with worry and fear.

"What...happened?" Hikari asked with a low sound in her voice. She seemingly forgot what she just had been through.

"You started to scream and hunch down. You screamed something about the darkness and that it's comming" Takeru answered, happy that Hikari was well enough, but still disturbed by what he just saw from her.

Before Hikari could say anything, MaloMyotismon laughed more loudly than before. As he was growing bigger by the powers of darkness, he saw everything that little tramp did, and it made him even more confident of his chances. If the Digidestined of Light reacted physically by  
the growing darkness, it meant that the darkness wasn't just powerful, but it was even more powerful than he thought it was, and that meant a quick victory for him.

After he grew high enough the darkness would allow, MaloMyotismon was at least twice as tall of his former size, and he even towered Shakkoumon. He looked even more of a demon than he already was, and he grinned his whole mouth full at the Digidestined and their partners, showing off all those sharp teeth that reminded the Digidestined of something out of a horror movie. The digimon felt some of that familiar fear returning to them as they looked at MaloMyotismon's full size, but they couldn't allow their fears stop them now.

"Come on, my friends! It's now or never!" MagnaAngemon encouraged his comrades, and they all charged at MaloMyotismon, ready to finally put this monster down for good.

MaloMyotismon grinned his sharp teeth at the charging forms of the human pets, not even one bit afraid of them.

"Watch and learn!" He said to them, and his shoulder-mouths opened up and inside them, dark bolts charged up for the upcomming attack.

"Screaming Darkness!" MaloMyotismon shouted, and those large, high-powered dark bolts shot out of his shoulder-mouths and flew toward the digimon partners of the Digidestined. When the blots hit the charging digimon, they shook massively by the strong force that hit them. Even MagnaAngemon and Angewomon, beings that were specially adapted to resist the powers of darkness, shook just as massively as Shakkoumon and Silphymon did. They shook so hard by the high energy that came out of the bolts that it looked like they each had an epileptic seizure but fortunately, MaloMyotismon's attack didn't last long enough to digidevolve them all, since after some few seconds, which though felt like hours, the bolts ran out of energy, and the digimon fell down to the ground, weakened but still alive and in their digievolved forms.

The Digidestined looked and gasped in shock of that in just one attack, MaloMyotismon took down their digimon partners without breaking a sweat. Hell, he didn't even move a foot aside, he just stood at the same place when he attacked.

MaloMyotismon himself felt the need to mock the Digidestined after when that pathetic charge of their pets failed.

"Oops, I think I broke your frieeends! It's a shame they won't be conscious to witness my most triumphant moment!" MaloMyotismon mocked the Digidestined before he rose his arms toward the sky.

"Behold my power!" MaloMyotismon shouted, and then large beams of dark energy shot out of his claw and toward the dark sky, seemingly concentrated at a designated target that hid in the sky.

When the dark beams hit the sky, the dark clouds were pushed away by the force of the beams, and a hole opened up on there the beams had hit. After the hole became large enough for the Digidestined to see through, they were completely taken by surprise by what they saw, and they just stared in awe at the thing that was behind the hole with their eyes wide and their mouths dropped to the ground. This was just so unbelievable, and yet it was happening in front of their own eyes.

The beams continued through the hole and hit their designated target. After they hit their target, the beams slowly started to cover it in darkness.

"He...he opened a hole from the Digital World!" Iori said in a surprised tone.

"And it looks like it leads to the real world" Miyako said after Iori. Indeed it was the real world that the Digidestined saw behind the hole, and the dark beams were covering it in darkness.

"I knew it! It has been in his plan all along to get both worlds!" Takeru shouted after the revelation of MaloMyotismon's true goals.

"It amazes me how slow you children are! Did you really think that I'll be satified ruling only the Digital World?! No, one world isn't enough for me! I'll claim both the Digital World and the real world for myself, and I'll rule them as their king, and with the powers of darkness at my side, I'll rule supreme for all time! And there's nothing you brats can do about it!" MaloMyotismon said to the Digidestined while he still had his arms high up and continued to shoot the dark beams toward the real world.

"I can't believe it! We fought him three years ago, and he still is the same monster that wants to become a evil tyrant! Looks like he hasn't changed one bit!" Hikari said in shock as she just couldn't believe that this monster was just evil as he was so many years ago.

"Well, he has gone more insane. That's for sure" Takeru said as he sneered at the monster.

"Come on, we must beat him! Billions of humans and digimon are counting on us, and we can't let them down now!" Miyako said to her fellow Digidestined as they were just watching that freak spreading the darkness to the real world without doing anything about it.

"But Miyako, how? Our partners are down, and we don't stand a chance against him by ourselves. And the darkness is spreading too quickly. We need a miracle to beat him now" Hikari said to Miyako.

"Maybe, but we must do at least something! We can't just stand here and watch him spreading the darkness!" Miyako said back to Hikari. Their chances might be slim right now, but they just couldn't let this monster win no matter what. They'd to at least try something to stop this monster from taking over the worlds. They should even try to throw rocks at him as long it'd slow him down from spreading the darkness.

"And what exactly will you do?!" a voice asked Miyako behind her back. She turned around, and she saw again MaloMyotismon spreading his darkness to the real world, but now he also looked down at her with an amused grin on his lips, showing off his large, sharp teeth.

"Please, tell me what exactly you'll do to stop me and the darkness from not claiming your world as our possession?! Please, enlighten me!" MaloMyotismon asked the long-haired, four-eyed girl who was obviously too brain-dead to realize that this battle was completely one-sided.

Miyako was nearly petrified by that bloodthirsty gaze that beamed from MaloMyotismon's yellow eyes, and by all those sharp teeth that seemed to be too large for his mouth. All that evil inside that beast just radiated right down at her with all its intend to make her doubt her chances. To make her feel despair and fright, and it almost worked. Miyako's confidence and bravado almost disappeared the second she turned her eyes to that monster after he asked her how she'd defeat him when he was at his most powerful, and that earlier terror was returning to her system. Her nerves just locked down, and she couldn't even blink as she was so terrified by those cold, evil, if not soulless, eyes that looked down at her from forthy-fifth feets above and pierced to her very own soul, clearly enjoying to see her petrified by fear.

After some few seconds that felt like an eternity, Miyako got some controll of her nerves, and she tried to say something, but her fear made it difficult for her to find any words.

"We..." Miyako started with a meek tone that was barely audiable. When she heard how weak her voice was, she became disgusted by herself for letting that freak get the best of her, so she stretched her back up and hardened her eyes as she looked with determination at MaloMyotismon, who still was waiting for her to answer him.

"We'll simply defeat you! That's what we'll do, and you'll lose to us so you might beg for mercy right now!" Miyako shouted at MaloMyotismon as defiant and courageous as she could be.

MaloMyotismon laughed loudly after he heard Miyako's answer. They'd defeat _him_...by _themselves_? Not a chance. But those weaklings sure knew how to entertain him.

"Nothing but a toothless bark!" MaloMyotismon said after he laughed in amusement. He wasn't at all impressed by Miyako's threat, and he dismissed her as a weak brat that couldn't even sore him with its bite. He turned his head up to the sky, and he saw that the real word was nearly covered by the darkness. MaloMyotismon felt his excitement going wild inside his entire being as he saw victory coming closer and closer. It was only a matter of time, and everything would finally be his. He could already see himself sitting on a gigantic throne, surrounded by countless numbers of humans and digimon alike who all bowed down to him and praised him as their one and true lord and master. He could even see all the four Sovereigns, who also bowed down to him, praised him as their true sovereign and swore their everlasting loyalty to him, and him alone. Yes, he was so close to his goal. So close to everything he ever wanted, and everything he'd paid and sacrified for would be proven to not had been in vain. He might have suffered several setbacks, but they all would have been worth it when he finally become the king of both the Digital World and the real world. And if he did it well enough, he might even get some other worlds to rule over.

While MaloMyotismon was daydreaming of his great future the same time he continued to cover the real world in darkness, Takeru couldn't help but once again thinking that their chances were from slim to none. Miyako might have shouted defiantly at that psychotic freak, but it was as he said just a toothless bark. There was nothing they could do right now but watch as that monster was nearing the victory he so wanted. Their partners were unconscious, and they were down two Digidestined so what could they do? Hikari was right; they couldn't do anything but hope for a miracle.

But wait...the D-Terminal! Yes, he still had the D-Terminal with him, and with it, he could contact the other Digidestined and tell them to aid them. Takeru quickly picked his D-Terminal from his pocket and opened the lid. When he saw the screen, he immediately typed his message, and wrote on who their true enemy was, that they were fighting him in the Digital World, and that they immediately needed reinforcement. Once the message was done, Takeru sent it to the other Digidestined back at the real world. Now Takeru hoped that the other Digidestined would come soon and aid them in this battle. He didn't know how they'd be able to come to the Digital World, but he and his friends couldn't fight this battle by themselves.

He just hoped that it wouldn't be too late when the others arrive to the battlefield.

* * *

The older Digidestined were still in the real world. After when the younger Digidestined followed Oikawa through the gate to the Digital World, or at least they thought it was to the Digital World, the older Digidestined had been too slow to reach the gate in time before it closed, so they were left on the real world. While the younger Digidestined fought MaloMyotismon in that strange dimension, the older Digidestined had tried to get to the Digital World through Koushirou's laptop, but it failed since their Digivices couldn't open the gate. Dishearted, they went to Koushirou's room (the inofficial headquarter of the Digidestined) and were waiting in there, in case the portal would suddenly open, while they hoped that the younger Digidestined were doing well in their battle against Oikawa and his minions.

Then suddenly, the sky became more darker. At first they thought it simply was the weather that was getting bad, but then the sky became too dark for that theory. They got this weird gut feeling that told them that the darkening of the sky was somehow related to the fight in the Digital World, but it wasn't until when they got an e-mail from Mimi, which said that the same thing was happening in the United States, that it became clear to them that the darkening of the sky wasn't of natural causes, but real darkness that came from the Digital World and slowly was covering the real world.

As they looked out at the window to see the darkness getting a tighter hold of the world, Taichi got the message from Takeru, and when he read it, he couldn't believe his own eyes. All this time and it was Myotismon who was behind everything that had happened to the worlds, and he did them all right below their very own noses, completely fooled them like a bunch of morons. Taichi would have even thought that Takeru's message was just a sick joke if it wasn't for the situation, and it did explain the darkening around the globe; Myotismon was a close ally to the darkness, and if he did digievolve to his new mega form, than he likely would be powerful enough to pull something like that, but still.

After when Taichi read Takeru's message, he quickly gathered the Digidestined who weren't in Koushirou's room with those who were, and they almost immediately tried to figure out how they could go to the Digital World and help their younger friends. To say that the others were just as surprised and shocked of the revelation of Myotismon's return, his role behind everything that started with the Digimon Emperor's reign, and his digievolution to MaloMyotismon would be an understatement. Yamato and Koushirou just blinked, Sora was completely out of words, and Jou's old childhood anxiety returned with full force and caused the oldest Digidestined to stutter nervously on how it just couldn't be true that Myotismon was back. Fortunately, they all got their acts together, and they'd a brainstorming on how they could return to the Digital World.

It was Koushirou who came up with the first idea. He asked them if they remember how they came to the Digital World the first time, which they did. That memory was just as clear as if it happened the last day. It didn't take long for them to realize what he tried to bring up by asking that question; the first time they came to the Digital World, they hadn't used a computer, but they were simply pulled to it...from the summer camp they camped at.

Koushirou's idea immediately clicked inside their heads. What if they could return to the Digital World at the summer camp? It'd worked before so it could work again.

Though the camp was at least two miles away from Tokyo so they needed someone to drive them to it, so they immediately asked their parents and any other family members for help. The Digidestined told them that they needed some lift to the camp they were in when they were pulled into the Digital World the first time, and their families were ready to give them some...though not before there was some drama when the Digidestined told them that Oikawa wasn't the true enemy but the true enemy was Myotismon himself, resurrected from the grave.

Yoshie Izumi almost got a nervous breakdown, Hiroaki Ishida's cigarett fell from his mouth as it'd dropped to the ground in sheer disbelief, Jou's brother, Shin Kido, just said it was no way that it could be true, Yuuko Yagami almost cried in dread, and Toshiko Takenouchi looked like as she'd scream and curse in a rage at the monster that had returned. Being some of the few humans aside the Digidestined who remembered the "Fog Incident", as it was offically named, three years ago, they perfectely remembered the monster that was Myotismon and his occupation of Odaiba. They remembered the pain, suffering and destruction that digimon had caused Odaiba and its citizens, and all because he wanted to kill an innocent, young girl that wasn't even ten years old due to his paranoid belief that she'd destroy him one day.

And their reaction didn't become better when the Digidestined told them that not only that, but now Myotismon had digievolved to MaloMyotismon, who supposely was even worse than VenomMyotismon, and now was covering the real world in darkness and beating their younger members around as if they were rag dolls.

The Motomiyas, the Inoues, the Hidas and the Ichijoujis didn't know who the hell Myotismon was, but they were anyway ready to support the Digidestined when they heard that the youngest members of their families were fighting a monstrous evil for not just their own lives, but for the fate of this world and the Digital World as well. They could tell that whoever the Myotismon fella was, he meant big business when the other adults lost their nerves just by hearing his name.

After when the families of the older Digidestined calmed themselves down, they all immediately went to their cars or any vehicle that could take the Digidestined to their old camp, and they quickly drove away. As they were driving, they saw that the streets were full with people who stared at the dark sky with both wonder and fear. The people didn't know that this was something pulled by MaloMyotismon, but they knew enough that this sudden darkening of the sky wasn't something natural.

People became terrified by the darkness' more tighter hold of the globe, and it didn't take long before panic started to rise among them. More and more people became so panicked that riots were getting started around the globe. People knew that whatever all this darkness was, it was a danger and a threat to them, and the old survival instincts that had been dormant and repressed for so many years, for some in their entire lives, now got loose with all their might. Those instincts did as they always do when they get free: they caused their human hosts to go wild in panic and give in to their fear of what was threatening their self-preservation.

People were rioting everywhere in all corners of the world, and it seemed that there was no way to stop them. The fear consumed people everywhere, and it caused them to act unrationally. They were acting like a herd of animals that was chased by hungry predators: running around without any direction, causing destruction everywhere and attacking anyone and anything that they thought were threats to them. The riot police and any other law enforcement were useless in keeping the order as the riots and the panic were too much for their numbers and resources to handle, and it didn't help that some police officers got consumed by the fear as well. Fear that crushed their self-discipline and freed their own suppressed instincts to the world.

But it wasn't just their instinctively panic that told the people to act against their own rationality. The darkness that was covering the world had a role as well in the outburst of crowd insanity. Its silent whispers were sneakingly telling the people to throw away their mask of civilized morals and just give themselves in to their inner darkness. Its whispers were encouraging them to throw away their facade and just _do_ what they always wanted to do. To free themselves from the chains that were repressing and holding them down, and just go loose on the world that now belonged to the darkness.

The people might think they hadn't heard the whispers in all this confusion and chaos...but yet they all heard that little voice telling them to give themselves in to their own desires and wants, and not let anyone stand in their way as they always had in their entire lives.

And they listened, whatever they knew it or not.

At first when they were driving through the streets, nothing really bad happened. People just stood and looked up at the darkened sky, but as they were driving on, they saw that people suddenly started to act unrationally and before they knew it, they were in the middle of a riot zone. Buildings were burning, fires were everywhere, and people were destroying, robbing, vandalizing and burning everything they saw. They even turned their aggression toward each other as they were attacking, beating, stabbing and shooting each other. Some of those people were even police officers, firemen and ambulance drivers, and they were just as brutal like any common rioter.

The Digidestined and their families were so taken by shock that they just stared wordlessly out of the windows at the chaos. They couldn't believe that something like this was happening in front of their own eyes. It was...aweful to see all this chaos and violence that was destroying their city. Seeing people reduced to such savage and wild animals was so breathtaking that they couldn't describe what exactly they felt. But they didn't have much time to waste: they got a world to save, and all this chaos told them that they needed to hurry.

They were driving fast through the streets without stopping or slowing down. They couldn't do that since it might cause all of them to be attacked from some rioters, and then the fight would be over and MaloMyotismon would have won. After some difficulties, they were finally out of Tokyo, and on the road to the camp. It was a silent drive and no one spoke anything as they all were shocked by the chaos they just barely left. But as shocked as they were, they became more determined to defeat MaloMyotismon since he was the one behind all that chaos and violence. Once he was gone, everything would be back to normal again.

After a quite ride, they all finally arrived to the camp there everything started for so many years ago.

"We're here" Hiroaki said to the Digidestined that were in his own van. They were all glad that they finally came, and so was Hiroaki, but he'd said that sentence with a weak tone that was unusual for the man. Despite his tough personality, the revelation of Myotismon's return, his darkening of the world, and the rioting chaos he witnessed had made an impact on him, and he found it difficult to shake them off his mind.

"Good job dad. We couldn't have done it without you" Yamato told his dad. He was glad that they finally made it despite what was happening in Tokyo, but he clearly heard that weak voice his usually strong father spoke with, so he tried to cheer him up with some extra grateful words.

Whatever it worked or not, Hiroaki didn't show it. He just immediately went to buisness.

"Yeah, yeah, but now get out. You guys got some worlds to save, and they ain't gonna be saved if you all just sit here and lazing around the whole day"

"All right dad. We're going out" Yamato said while he rolled his eyes. Typical his dad; immediately went to buisness and pretending like he was a hard nut to crack. Just like the sterotypical Japanese working man: buisness first, everything else second.

Yamato and his friends went out of the van. If this was a normal day, they'd have gain a feeling of nostalgia as they remembered the day that changed their lives forever, but this wasn't a normal day. The sky was pitch black and they'd a hard time to see anything, so instead of nostalgia, they felt worry and dread.

"This's bad. It seems that MaloMyotismon is winning big time right now" Koushirou said, worried that it already might be too late.

"He might be winning right now, but once we kick in, he'll fall like he always does" Taichi said confidently. While he too wasn't exactly excited to see all this darkness around, he was confident that they'd win. This wasn't the first time their enemy had the advantage before losing to the Digidestined, and Myotismon had been defeated, like, twice before so what different would it be this time?

While it was difficult to see in this darkness, the Digidestined could at least see that the others were getting out of their vehicles. Each individual, Digidestined or not, were silent as they, like Hiroaki, found it difficult to shake out what they witnessed in Tokyo while they drove to the camp. Hiroaki himself lightened a cigarett as soon he went out of the van to calm his nerves down. After all those things, he really needed a smoke.

"This's the place you all got transported to the Digital World?" Shin suddenly asked his brother.

"Yeah. It was here it all started for us" Jou answered back.

"Wow...Should've joined you on your trip. Life might have been more excitning than. I bet Shuu wish that he followed you on the trip, since he like Japanese monsters and all" Shin teased his other brother Shuu, who had drove the car they all three used.

Shuu just rolled his eyes.

"It wasn't that fun and all. It was really scary when you suddenly ended up in another world just like that" Jou told his brothers.

"Everything scared you back than. You could even be scared by a small mosquito bite" Shin teased his younger brother, who shook his head to himself as he remembered what a wimp he used to be.

"Hehehe I bet my son would have thought differently. He always wanted to travel to that world eversince he discovered it through his old games" Chinkara Hida lightheartly said to the Kido brothers. He found it ironically amusing that his son, who always knew of the Digital World and its digimon and always wanted to travel there one day, never got to see it, while one of the Digidestined ended up there by chance without any pre-knowledge and without any desire to end up there in the first place.

More and more people started to chat with each other, ask the Digidestined on how it was in the Digital World and so on. Taichi couldn't help but smile to see people loosing up despite what was happening to the worlds.

But they couldn't no longer delay. Their friends were fighting an one-sided battle, and they needed aid as soon as possible.

"Anyone who has a flashlight?" He asked to the crowd, who then looked at him.

"I've one" Mr. Motomiya said and gave Taichi his flashlight.

"Ok. Now lets go" Taichi said, and they all went after him to the camp.

* * *

Back at the battlefield, MaloMyotismon still was covering the real world in darkness, and he couldn't help but admiring his own handwork. It was only a question of minutes, and both worlds would be united in darkness. And his empire would be complete.

Through his connection with the darkness, MaloMyotismon could tell that the real world already was burning in chaos. Humans all over the world let their fear and greed get the better of them, and they were acting like scared animals that were cornered with no way to defend themselves but aggressivly going all out. It didn't surprise him at all: humans, for all their achievements, were instinctively afraid by darkness, and even the tiniest amount of pure darkness could cause them to act like the savages they really were. But what they didn't know was that all that fear and greed would only feed the darkness and make it even more powerful. Their fear would only grow the darkness until it'd be literally unstoppable, and no amount of light, small or big, would be able to force it back.

All that chaos and destruction, and the both worlds hadn't even fallen _completely_ to darkness. This was just the start of the reign of darkness. A good start, but just a start none of less. It was enough though to make him literally unstoppable and able to rule the worlds unchallanged, but just wait when the _real_ darkness would come. Than the humans and the digimon alike would learn what fear truly taste like.

MaloMyotismon looked down at the Digidestined, and he saw that they were still staring at him with fright and frustrastion. They knew that he was unstoppable, so MaloMyotismon thought that he should mock them furthur.

"Look, you little insects! Your world belongs now to darkness! Witness the beginning of my reign over your pathetic little ball of dirt, and despair! You've failed my dear Digidestined, puppets of the cowards who dare call themselves the Sovereigns! Your world is mine, and it'll be mine for all times! You humans will suffer for all the setbacks and defeats you had given me, and you'll suffer pain that your puny little minds can't even grasp!"

"Not while we're here" Takeru shouted at MaloMyotismon.

MaloMyotismon just rolled his eyes. The stubbornness of those little...

"You little fool! Can't your little, simple head get this through?! You've lost, and I've won! I won before this so-called "battle" even begun, but if you want to play the hero like that moronic brat did, well here is your chance! Go ahead and attack me! Stop me if you dare!" MaloMyotismon shouted right at the blond-haired moron who just didn't get it, and then he waited for him to pick up his challenge.

Takeru didn't do anything. He might try to be defiant, but he already knew that he couldn't even so much as scratch MaloMyotismon if he tried to do what Daisuke did earlier.

MaloMyotismon snorted in disgust. Of course that puny, pathetic runt was nothing but a coward who wouldn't attack him when his words were put to the test. How that little runt was responsible for the death of both Devimon and Piedmon was literally the mystery of the millenium.

"I knew you wouldn't do it! For all your talk, in the end of the day, you're nothing but weak brats who cowardly hides behind those weak runts who doesn't deserve to be called digimon! Without them, you would have died the first day you came here! You're nothing but a bunch of brainwatched puppets, chosen to be the cannon fodder of those cowards that call themselves gods of this world, and fight their battles that they're too weak and afraid to do themselves! But no matter, you and your puppeteers will be gone, and this world and your world will have a real ruler for once!"

"Not while we're here" a voice said to MaloMyotismon, who looked at where the voice came from. It came from MagnaAngemon, who was pulling himself up from the ground.

MaloMyotismon chuckled at MagnaAngemon.

"Oh MagnaAngemon! I know that you're the one who killed Devimon and Piedmon, two of the most powerful dark digimon that ever lived, but surely you already know that I'm unstoppable! Why do you think you can defeat me?!" MaloMyotismon asked the angle digimon, who now stood up on his legs.

"Because we're the rightous guardians of the light." MagnaAngemon said to MaloMyotismon.

"And because we're the guardians of the worlds and the people on them, digimon and humans alike" Angewomon suddenly said to MaloMyotismon.

"And we'll never give up to the likes of you" Silphymon said as he got up in air.

"No matter what" Shakkoumon finished, standing up at his migthy height.

"Well, you should try! Your little defiance don't seem to work out very much for you, now does it?!" MaloMyotismon snarkingly told them. He could tell that they were getting desperate when they resorted to such motivational garbage. They were clinging to their ideas like a man clinging to a piece of rock in the middle of a raging waterfall.

The digimon charged their attacks despite what MaloMyotismon said, but he was ready for them.

"Screaming darkness!" he shouted, and a shield of darkness surrounded him. When the attacks hit it, they were reflected back at the digimon, who then fell down to the ground. MaloMyotismon laughed at that pathetic charge.

"Ah, you runts sure know how to entertain me!" he said amused.

"_Come on guys! Where're you?!_" Takeru desperately thought to himself. They needed help now, so the Digidestined back home must find a way in fast, because they were losing this battle.

* * *

Back in the real world, the older Digidestined and their families were finally at the camp there everything had started three years ago. Once up at the top, Yamato couldn't help but stating the obvious.

"The darkness is very strong here too"

"I know, but if we want to get back to the Digital World, this is the only place that we may can do it. It might be the only chance for all of us and both worlds. For everything" Taichi said to Yamato with a serious and determined tone. Since they couldn't go back to the Digital World through Koushirou's laptop, this was their best bet.

"But we don't have any D-3 Digivice to open the portal" Jou said with some of that old childhood anxiety in him. He was worried that if they failed here, they were done, and all would be over. Myotismon would win this war and the worlds finally under his controll.

"With the gate in Tokyo sealed by BlackWarGreymon, this is the best bet we've. I know that he tried to help us when he did it, but I think he might have done more harm than good if we can't get back there. We've to try and hope for the best" said Koushirou while he was trying to keep his emotions in controll. BlackWarGreymon's sacrifice for their cause had hurt all the Digidestined inside, and since his sacrifice proved to be wasted in the end, Koushirou was nearly angry on how mockingly cruel fate had been toward their enemy-turned-loose ally.

"This's here we went to the Digital World the first time so maybe that's a good sign" Sora said rather somberly. Not only because she was worried for the worlds if they failed this day, but also because Koushirou's reminder of BlackWarGreymon's wasted sacrifice brought out some of the sadness she felt the first time she heard about his sacrifice to their cause.

"Well it better work. We've to get Noriko to Oikawa as soon as possible" Jou said as he turned around to face the said girl and her parents. After when Oikawa harvested Noriko's Dark Spore, the girl had fallen into a deep depression. Before she was given the Dark Spore, she was just a sick, lonely and mediocre child who suffered from a serious illness that could kill her any moment, but when she got the Dark Spore, the illness not only disappeared, but she also became more than just mediocre.

She finally became someone. Someone who got the brain and the skills to become speical. Someone who finally could gain the respect and love from people who used to see her as a burden and a disease carrier. And though all that love she suddenly recieved from her parents and her peers really was just shallow, at least the Dark Spore kept her from being hurt by the shallowness. It instead made her despite them all for their sudden, hypocritical care.

But now that the Dark Spore had been harvested, all those gifts were gone, and she was just a weak child again. Sure the illness was gone as well, but that didn't stop Noriko from feeling self-pity. She was broken by not only that, but also because she'd been nothing by a tool to Oikawa. A pawn for him to use and then throw away when it'd lost its usefulness for him. The man who she thought was her savior, had only been her puppeteer.

"Tell me. What's going to happen with my daughter if you don't?" Noriko's father asked the Digidestined with concern in his voice.

"Don't worry. She'll be fine" Jou kindly said to the father.

"But..." Noriko's father started, but didn't know how to say further. He was unsure if taking his little girl to the battlefield really was the best solution for her

"She'll be okey. I promise" Shin ensured Noriko's father. He trusted his brother and his friends that they'd make it. After all, that was what they did the last time.

Noriko's father could hear the trust and confidence in Shin's voice, and it made him confident as well that the Digidestined would succeed.

"All right. We trust you"

The Digidestined smiled happily when Noriko's family put their trust in them before they turned around to face the sky, soon about to try their way into the Digital World. However, Sora still was unsure of their chances.

"Guys. Am I the only one who is worried that we won't be able to save her? That we won't be able to save everything?" she asked to her fellow comrades with a low tone. She didn't want the families behind them to doubt their chances like she was doing, so she asked loud enough so that only her friends could hear her.

"Don't worry Sora. I'm sure we'll be able to save both her and everything else. We'll make it like we always does" Yamato ensured his girlfriend, who looked at him with a happy smile on her face. Sora was glad that her boyfriend was here to comfort her.

Taichi heard them talking to each other, and smiled at them on how supporting and comforting they were to each other...but it was a false smile. Inside, Taichi couldn't help but feel something that made him...well, sour by just looking at them. He knew that he should be happy for them since they'd found love in each other...but he couldn't. Taichi didn't want to believe that he was jealous of their relationship, but that little voice inside his head was ensuring him that yes, he was jealous, and that he'd the right to be so since his so-called best friend had stolen something that should have been his. And despite Taichi tried to ignore that little voice, he couldn't help but slowly agreeing to what it was saying.

Taichi turned his eyes from the couple and toward the sky. It was now or never.

* * *

MaloMyotismon knew that soon everything would be his. Only some darkness left, and both worlds would be united as one world of darkness. Everything would finally be in his command.

The only problem was that the pets of those weak humans just didn't get it that he'd already won. They were still fighting, no matter how much he just pushed them back each time they attacked.

"Why do you even try to fight me?! Just know this already, you're done! The worlds are pretty much already at my command, and there's nothing you can do about it, so why even bother?! Any moment soon now, and both worlds will be finally mine! Mine, and mine alone! You can't stop me no matter what, so why don't you just sit down and watch as my dominance is nearing completion!" MaloMyotismon mockingly encouraged the digimon. Not that he minded them doing an idiotic charge after another, but it was now getting ridiculous even for him.

"Forget it! As so long we still can stand up we won't let you win!" MagnaAngemon said to MaloMyotismon while he and his comrades charged for another attack which they hoped would finally penetrate through MaloMyotismon's defences.

"Gate of Destiny!"

"Celestial Arrow!"

"Static Force!"

"Justice Beam!"

"Screaming Darkness!" MaloMyotismon countered back and again, the attacks reflected back to the partners of the Digidestined after they hit his shield of darkness. After when they were hit by their own attacks, MaloMyotismon snorted in disgust. Their first displays of defiant and denying courage had entertained him for their sheer stupidity, but now they were getting borning, and they even started to irritate him.

"You little weaklings! You think that you're saving the worlds, but in reality you're just denying the natural selection! The darkness is meant to rule, and I'm meant to rule your worlds! You can try the whole day long if you want to, but you'll lose, and as soon my work is complete, I'll make you wish that you never had been born!" MaloMyotismon threatened his enemies.

The hope of the Digidestined was running out. Their partners had tried to attack several times by now, but they were always pushed back by the powerful might of the dark being who was MaloMyotismon. No matter how much the digimon tried, they always failed to even much as blast a tiny hole through MaloMyotismon's defences, and the Digidestined started to get desperate. If they didn't stop him now, than it'd be all over. The freedom of the people of both worlds would be gone, and endless evil would rule over them for all time.

"Please get up Silphymon! Please get up!" Miyako shouted to Silphymon as she was extremely worried that her digimon partner was hurt badly. He'd taken so many hits by his own attacks that Miyako started to believe that some few more, and her partner would...

"I'm fine Miyako! Just stay at there you're! We'll sooner of later beat this monster!" Silphymon ensured his human partner and grinned a confident smile at her while he, painfully, was trying to get up. He knew that she started to doubt his and his fellow digimon friends' chances, and the last thing they needed was the children losing themselves to despair. He tried to keep Miyako's fear and doubt in check by his encouragement, but the real problem was that inside, even he started to doubt their chances.

"Angewomon, are you alright?!" Hikari asked her digimon partner who was trying to get up as well. Like her fellow digimon, Angewomon was rather bruised, as two of her wings seemed to be out of their place, and some of her white clothing had got some holes on her left arm and leg.

"I'm fine, Hikari! No need to worry for me! This isn't the worst beating I've received from him!" Angewomon said to Hikari as she tried to calm her human partner's worry. She tried to say that with her usual kind and graceful tone, but the pain and the bitter recall of her former servitude to that psychotic, evil being made it instead sound sour and bitter.

"Ok" Hikari said with low tone, worried that her digimon partner was nearing her edge, both physically and mentally.

"Shakkoumon, how do you feel?!" Iori asked his towering digimon partner.

"I've never been better!" Shakkoumon sarcastically answered Iori as he was trying to keep himself in balance. All the beatings had made his head dizzy, and he found it difficult to stand up right.

"_This's getting nowhere. We can't penetrate to him, and the darkness' hold over the Real World is getting stronger. We must stop him, but how? What can we do that we haven't tried yet?_" MagnaAngemon thought to himself. He and his comrades were reaching their limits, and they were getting out of options. They needed a miracle to beat that corrupted digimon, and fast.

"_WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS?! WE NEED HELP NOW SO WHY THE HELL ARE YOU TAKING SO LONG_!" Takeru mentally shouted in desperation. They needed help, and they needed that like NOW.

* * *

Back at the camp, the older Digidestined were facing the pitch black sky.

"Taichi, we've to get to the Digital World before its too late" Agumon said to his own human partner. He was the only digimon amongst this group of humans, which the humans who weren't familiar with digimon before were creeped out by before they were ensured that Agumon was on their side.

"I know so lets try it" Taichi said as he picked up his Digivice from his pocket and held it up to the sky.

"Digiportal open...please" Taichi said to the sky rather unsure if it'd work or not. It seemed to be the latter as nothing happened. No portal opened up or anything, they were all still facing the same dark sky at the same world.

"Great. I guess that theory is out now" Yamato said bitterly after an awkward silence.

"This's bad. What'll we do now?" Jou asked his fellow Digidestined.

"I don't know" Taichi answered somberly. He didn't know how they'd aid their younger friends, now that they couldn't get to the Digital World.

Despair was right about to set growth within the group when suddenly, Koushirou got something interesting on his laptop.

"Hey guys! Take a look of this!" Koushirou loudly said to his friends.

"More bad news?" Jou sarcastically asked the red-haired computer expert.

"No...actually there're some good news! It's lightening up over the whole world!"

"What?! Really?!" Taichi asked surprised.

"Yeah. The lights are everywhere, and they're penetrating through the darkness!"

"How? What exactly is happening?" Sora asked.

"I think that the Digidestined around the world are pointing their Digivices, and the lights inside them are pushing the darkness back!"

Indeed, the Digidestined around the world were pointing their Digivices to push back the darkness that had covered their world. They wouldn't let the darkness win this day, so they were pointing their Digivices up to the dark sky to aid the light to beat this unnatural force of evil once and for all. All individuals who were so different in race, colour, social class, religion and nationality were for this day united for one common cause: to protect the worlds from the dark evil that was threatening each life living on them, and they were spreading the light to stop the darkness from taking over everything that they held dear to in their hearts and souls.

* * *

Back at the battlefield, something unexpected happened that took both the Digidestined and MaloMyotismon with surprise. Hundreds and hundreds of digimon appeared on the cliffs that surrounded them, seemingly out of the blue. Digimon of all sizes and levels gathered around the battlefield with the common goal to aid their brothers and sisters against the creature that had caused and still was causing so much pain, suffering and chaos to both worlds, and they all would defeat him and end his evil once and for all.

"Wow look at all those digimon! Must be hundreds of them!" Iori said completely taken by surprise by witnessing this event.

"Well, it was about time some help came! Now they can help us defeat this monster!" Shakkoumon said rather annoyed on how all these digimon took their sweet time to finally arrive.

"Be grateful that our friends finally came to aid us in this battle!" MagnaAngemon said to his larger comrade in a disciplinary tone. They should be grateful that the aid they desperately needed had finally arrived, and specially when that aid was made of this large supply of allies, completely outnumbering MaloMyotismon to literally hundreds to one. But it was as Shakkoumon said; it was about time they came, as he and his friends were rather bruised up. Just his own armor started to gain cracks everywhere, and one of his wings didn't work properly as it'd been burned by his own attack.

Speaking of MaloMyotismon, he was completely annoyed to see all these digimon around who thought that just because they were outnumbering him, they could beat him any moment soon. He didn't listen to all those pets that belonged to the older digibrats as they were talking on how he'd lose, on how they'd win, the importence of friends and love, and all that usual bullcrap. Finally, he became so annoyed by them and their little speeches that sounded like they were taken directly from some self-help book so that he attacked them with the powers of darkness, just to shut them up.

"Screaming darkness!" He shouted, and dark energy blew all the digimon on their faces. As that shut them up for a moment, MaloMyotismon thought he should lecture them.

"Fools! It doesn't matter how many you're! You'll lose regardless! The worlds are mine!"

Then he looked up at the real world, not even bothering to wait for someone to say something back. He thought he'd see a world completely covered in darkness, ready for him to claim as his kingdom. Instead, he saw lights appearing out of the darkness one by one, and they were shining more and more stronger and were slowly ruining his work.

"_They got to be kidding me?!_" MaloMyotismon thought to himself frustrated. All those digibrats back at the real world – all those weak reserves – were trying to ruin his work with their Digivices. They were trying to push the darkness away, and that was really getting to him. He'd worked so hard and waited so long for this day to be his most ultimate triumph, but yet all those little, sniveling worms who claimed themselves to be an advanced species were trying to ruin all his hard work as much as they could.

"Guys. I can feel it" Hikari suddenly said to her friends.

"What can you feel?" Miyako asked surprised.

"The light. I can feel the light. Our friends at the real world are sending their light to us to help us" Hikari said, elated that their fortune finally started to shine for once. Being the Digidestined of Light, she could feel the light that came out of the Digivices around the real world and how it was pushing back the darkness that MaloMyotismon needed to make himself powerful. There was a chance for them afterall.

"She's right. I can feel it too" Angewomon said as well. Being partened to the Digidestined of Light, she too could feel the light that came out of the Digivices around the real world. She could feel that they shone with more and more strength by each second, and she felt, well, stronger. The light gave her strength, and it gave her the ability to ignore her pain. She, like her partner, was now confident that they could win this battle against the creature that was a slave to his own dark ambitions.

And it'd be only more light to spare. The Digivices at the real world suddenly shot out powerful beams of light that penetrated through the darkness, went through the hole and hit all digimon around them, lightening them up with such blinding strength so that MaloMyotismon suddenly put his arms to his eyes.

"NO! PLEASE GET THIS LIGHT OUT OF ME! IT HURT! IT HURTS DAMMIT! PLEASE TAKE THIS LIGHT AWAY! IT'S MELTING MY EYES!" MaloMyotismon screamed like if he was hurt by the glowing light that surrounded him from all sides.

"Look. He's in pain." Takeru said with a surprised tone. He already knew that the powers of light had an edge against the powers of darkness, but he didn't know that a such powerful dark being like MaloMyotismon could be hurt by the light by just its mere presence, and it surprised him that such seemingely unstoppable foe could be hurt by such small thing.

But then Takeru's surprise turned into a smug feeling that was unusual for the boy to feel, and he'd likely have been disgusted by himself if it wasn't due to which being that was screaming and shouting in pain right now.

"_Good. He deserves to be in pain, after the things he'd done. I just wish we could hurt him with worse things than just light. If I could, he'd have been ripped apart, limb by limb, for everything he'd done_" Takeru thought to himself bitterly. After what that freak had done, it deserved more pain from things far worse than just strong light, but he guessed that it'd do for now.

* * *

Back at the camp, the sky had suddenly lightened up with bright colours of all kinds, but right in front of the older Digidestined was a circular cloud that was green, with a white point at the middle.

"Look at that! The light!" Taichi said in surprise of seeing something like this.

"It's the portal! It's opening up!" Agumon said to the surprised Digidestined.

"It's the portal? Than lets waste no more time than! Our friends need us now!" Jou said to the others, ready to jump in and aid their younger friends against MaloMyotismon. He then turned his head to Noriko and said to her...

"Noriko! It's time!"

Noriko, still depressed, walked from her worried family toward the Digidestined in a zombie-like way. She got near Sora, who put her arm around Noriko's shoulders to comfort her.

"It's alright. Everything'll be worked out. You'll see" Sora said in a comforting tone to the depressed girl. Whatever it worked ot not, Noriko didn't show it. She just looked at Sora with empty eyes.

"Come on! Lets go!" Agumon shouted back to the Digidestined. They didn't have much time to waste, and if they got to win this war once and for all, they needed to go now.

"Right" Taichi said. The Digidestined picked up their Digivices and pointed them at the cloud. It didn't take long before the familiar tsunami that took them to the Digital World the first time appeared once again, and just like the last time, it swallowed them up and sent them right away.

The families of the Digidestined had turned their eyes away when the tsunami appeared, but then they turned back, the Digidestined were gone.

"Where did they go?! Noriko! Noriko!" Noriko's father shouted as he looked around for his daugther.

"Don't worry. She with the only people that can help her now. She'll be alright" Hiroaki ensured the worried father.

"Besides, there's nothing we can do now. We can only believe in our children that they'll win" Nancy told to the family.

"She's right. We've to believe in them" Mrs. Motomiya said to the group.

"They succeeded three years ago, so they'll succeed again" Yuukio said to the group. While she was worried for her children, she also was proud of them for the strength they possessed and what they'd done for both worlds, and she trusted in them that they'd succeed in their mission.

"Yes, but remember. They're fighting Myotismon again, and even three years ago he was a tough nut to crack" Masami Izumi said as he remembered how difficult it was for the children to defeat that monster, and he was worried for them, now that Myotismon had become more stronger than ever before.

An awkward silence appeared within the group. Most of the members remembered Myotismon, how difficult it was for the children to defeat him and how they really only won due to luck. Yuukio mentally cursed Myotismon inside her head. That monster started all this just because he wanted to kill her little girl, and even tried it at one point. Hikari only survived because a digimon named Wizardmon had sacrificed himself for her, as Mr. Ishida had told her and her husband, and Yuukio felt eternal gratefulness to the digimon she hadn't even met.

"They'll beat him. They did it before, and they can do it again. Just wait. Any moment soon, they'll come back as heroes" Shin ensured the group, confident that Myotismon would fail once again, and hopefully for good.

"They must do it. If they don't, well...you saw what happened in Tokyo" Haruhiko Takenouchi said to the group, which again became silent. The aweful event back in Tokyo still was in their minds, and just there it became clear that Myotismon couldn't be allowed to win.

"They'll win. The whole world is depending on them. We must believe that our children'll be victorious" Toshiko said as she trusted her daughter and her friends that they'd defeat that monster which she'd nothing but contempt to.

The group continued to look at the colourful sky, hoping that their children would come back home whole and safe, unaware of what plans the future had in store for them.

* * *

The younger Digidestined and their digimon partners were staring at what was happening around them with awe, and they weren't sure if they should believe their own eyes or not. Just two minutes ago, they fought a losing battle, if you would even call it a battle, but now the tides had changed, and MaloMyotismon was screaming and shaking in pain due to the lights that shone strongly around him. They were amazed on how quickly things had turned in just some few seconds.

And they'd be even more amazed on what was about to come next.

"My friends, look up!" MagnaAngemon said to his friends after he saw what was coming down from the sky. They all looked up and they were both surprised and elated to see the other Digidestined arriving to the battlefield. The Digidestined were falling down, but thanks to their Digivices that they were pointing to the ground and the light beams that helped the Digidestined to get to the Digital World, they landed safety on the cliffs that their digimon partners were at.

Takeru was so happy that his friends finally arrived that he couldn't stop himself from shouting to them.

"Hey guys! It's about time you came! We thought that you wouldn't come and help us! That freak was pushing us around as we were rag dolls, just one minute ago!"

"Yeah, like we would ever abandon you guys! We just had some traffic difficulties, but we finally came, didn't we?!" Taichi jokingly shouted back to Takeru.

"You sure did! We're happy to see you here!" Hikari shouted to her brother who she was glad to meet in this event.

"So that thing is MaloMyotismon huh?!" Taichi asked loudly to the younger Digidestined as he quickly went to buisness.

"Yes! That's Myotismon's new mega form! Not only that, but he's even more of a corrupt and monstrous evil than we fought three years ago!" Angewomon answered the brother of her human partner. The reason why she called him more corrupt than before was because she still remembered what exactly that monster did back at that strange dimension just twenty-thirty minutes ago, and it made the usual patient and kind digimon to feel nothing but contempt to him.

Taichi frowned when he heard the bitter tone that was unusual and out-of-character for the graceful, kind and calm digimon, but he guessed that it'd to due with her former servitude to that monster.

"Well, alright! We're going to take him down once and for all!" He shouted, and all the Digidestined and digimon shouted in agreement, ready to take this monster down for good. As soon he was defeated, peace would be finally restored between the worlds, and humans and digimon alike would live with each other in everlasting peace and understanding.

But alas, if only one of them had the ability to foresee the future, they'd have known that this battle was just the beginning of the end of the Digidestined.

* * *

Author's notes: Hi, it's me again, and as you can see, I'm reuploading this chapter. The reason why is because when I uploaded it the first time, I did so without reading it through some couple times before to see if the grammar was correct, as I was too excited by the relative success of the first chapter to care, but when the excitment ran off, I felt that I'd rushed out the second chapter, and based on the lack of responce for it, I guess that my feeling was right, so I deleted it and then I read it through some couple of times to make the grammar correct as possible. I found a lot of grammar issues so I'd now spent a whole month trying to fix them. This's so far I think I can go, considering that English ain't my first language. And as I said in the AN in the first chapter, pay attention that English isn't my first language so it may be still some grammar issues. In case of that, please PM me so that I can fix it.

Anyway, I hope that you like my fic as it's now, despite the possible faults in it.

To Sonfaro: Whatever Christmas the Japanese celebrates, I think it's probably just some forced advertising to make people buy more things than usual, because what other reason would a non-Christian population celebrate Christmas for, but anyway, I'm glad that you like the first chapter enough to follow this fic. It's really appreciating.

To Crystal A. Kenbara: I'm glad that you were so taken by the first chapter that you nearly didn't have any words for it. Continue to follow my fic, and I'm sure you'll be satisfied by the end of it ;)


	3. The Real Battle Begins

Digidestined who came from all corners of the real world had gathered to this one place at the Digital World in order to finish the war MaloMyotismon had started. Their mission as the protectors of the Digital World had called upon them to end the darkness that was threatening the way of life in both worlds as they knew it, and the dutiful heroes as they were, they answered that call the moment they heard it. The Digidestined had united their forces together to form a mighty army that was unlike anything that had ever appeared in the history of the Digital World.

The only question was if this huge army would be enough to defeat MaloMyotismon, a foe who was known for his intelligence, strength, ruthlessness and sheer determination that gave him the will to defy his own death, twice? A foe whose evil and lust for power were so strong that not even death itself could tame him.

Well, for the moment, the answer seemed to be yes, as MaloMyotismon still was screaming and cursing in pain due to the strong lights that surrounded him.

"PLEASE TAKE THAT DAMN LIGHT AWAY FROM ME! IT'S MELTING MY EYES OUT! IT HURT SO MUCH! IT'S LIKE ACID TO ME SO TAKE THAT SHIT AWAY FROM ME! I PROMISE THAT I'LL BE NICE IF YOU JUST SPARE ME FROM THIS PAIN!"

Taichi Yagami couldn't help but being disgusted by this supposed unstoppable foe. For the last part of the day he'd heard nothing than how this monster was treating the worlds as his personal playgrounds, and yet here he was whining like a punk for something little as shining light. But that didn't mean that he'd take any chances.

"Everyone! Start digievolve because we're soon about to take this psycho down for good!" Taichi ordered to his fellow Digidestined and their partners.

The Digidestined immediately followed his order as their Digivices activated, causing their digimon partners to digievolve to their highest levels.

"Agumon warp digievolve to...WarGreymon!"

"Gabumon warp digievolve to...MetalGarurumon!"

"Biyomon digievolve to...Birdramon!"

"Birdramon digievolve to...Garudamon!"

"Tentomon digievolve to...Kabuterimon!"

"Kabuterimon digievolve to...MegaKabuterimon!"

"Palmon digievolve to...Togemon!"

"Togemon digievolve to...Lillymon!"

"Gomamon digievolve to...Ikkakumon!"

"Ikkakumon digievolve to...Zudomon!"

"Betamon digievolve to...Seadramon!"

"Floramon digievolve to...Kiwimon!"

"Crabmon digievolve to...Coelamon!"

"Syakomon digievolve to...Octomon!"

"Syakomon digievolve to...Octomon!"

"Syakomon digievolve to...Octomon!"

"Gotsumon digievolve to...Monochromon!"

Taichi smiled in seeing so many strong digimon at their side ready for battle.

"Ok, this's how we do; we Digidestined will continue to shine the lights at him, while our partners will attack him! In that way, he'll fall before this day is over!"

The other Digidestined and their partners agreed to follow Taichi's strategy. Since the lights were weakening MaloMyotismon, he likely wouldn't stand a chance against so many digimon.

"Ok everyone! You heard the boy, let's do this!" WarGreymon said to his fellow digimon, and then they attacked MaloMyotismon, bombarding him with everything they got.

"AAAHHHHHH! PLEASE, THAT HURTS! PLEASE STOP THIS! LEAVE ME ALONE! BE MERCIFUL! IF YOU STOP WITH THIS I PROMISE THAT I'LL STOP DEALING WITH THE DARKNESS! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE! I PROMISE THAT I'LL BE GOOD!"

"Yeah, that's it! Just bomb the hell out of him! Don't stop until he's nothing but a greasy stain on the ground!" Taichi encouraged the digimon, so excited in their coming victory so that he forgot for a moment that MaloMyotismon was a digital being, not a being of flesh and blood that would leave a mess after the digimon were done with him.

"PLEASE SPARE ME! IT HURT SO MUCH! PLEASE, PLEASE, DON'T HURT...SCREAMING DARKNESS!" MaloMyotismon suddenly screamed and then dark energy shot out of him in a massive force. The dark force was so strong that it not only stopped the digimon dead on, but it also killed the lights that came out of the Digivices just like that, turning the landscape again to a pitch black world.

The Digidestined gawked in sheer surprise and disbelief on how MaloMyotismon stopped their digimon and killed the lights that just recently seemed to harm him just like that. It didn't take long before they got the feeling that they were in a deep trouble.

MaloMyotismon was amazed on how truely inept all these brats had to be. Did they really think that all they needed to do was to point some shining electronics at him, and he'd just roll over to them? How stupid did they've to be to believe that would actually work? The Sovereigns must had been really desperate when they allowed these...morons to become their frontline cannon fodder. But oh, they'd become fodder to his next attack, alright.

"BLOOD RAIN!" MaloMyotismon shouted, and then a gigantic, bloodred beam shot out of his body and up to the sky, though not the whole way up to the hole. The Digidestined and their partners stared at the beam with awe, as it shone the entire dark landscape bloodred. They didn't know what MaloMyotismon planned to do next with that beam, but their gut feelings told them that whatever next step he'd take, it wouldn't be pretty.

Then suddenly, meteors shot out of the beam, and were raining down at the Digidestined with full force. They weren't that huge meteors that you might expect, but they were big enough to bring a lot of hurt if they hit any of the Digidestined, if not more. Needless to say, the Digidestined quickly panicked as the meteor shower was nearing them faster and faster. They'd no way to escape the incoming fire as they were stuck at the cliffs, and they were unable to protect themselves from all those burning rocks that were about to turn the entire landscape to a firing pit.

Taichi stared in shock on how quickly the board had turned on them. For just one minute ago, he faced victory against the most powerful opponent the Digidestined ever had faced, and now he was facing big, burning rocks that soon would turn them all into smush.

As the meteor shower was just some few seconds away from bombing the Digidestined to oblivion, Taichi turned his head to left to see that Sora was one of the some who would be hit first. He felt his instincts take over him as he ran toward Sora in hope that he could protect her from the incoming fire. When he got to Sora, he immediately embraced her to shield her with his own body. The meteors were just some few moments away to hit them, and Taichi hoped that it'd be quick and not hurt that much.

Taichi closed his eyes as he could feel the meteor shower coming closer and closer, ready to take the hit for Sora's sake. Sora screamed as the meteors were finally hitting the designated area, and Taichi could hear the meteors slaming themselves down at the cliffs...and yet he didn't feel any pain that he was sure he'd feel. He opened his eyes in surprise to see Sora looking up at something above them in terror. Curious, Taichi turned his eyes up to see Garudamon above them. The bird digimon had came to them just in time, and had bent down to protect them with her large size.

The meteors were slaming down at her back, and the strong force and the burning heat each slamming rock carried with caused Garudamon massive pain. She was trying her hardest to not scream in pain and just endure it for the sake of her human friends. If she gave in to the pain that doubled each time those cursed rocks hit her, Sora and Taichi would become nothing but a smashed and bloody smear on the ground, and she refused to allow that to happen, so she took the pain with all her willforce.

Sora was worried out of her wits for her digimon partner. Garudamon was a strong digimon, but Sora could see that she was being pushed to the limit. The endless bombardment did nothing but causing her pain, and despite that Garudamon was trying her hardest to endure it, it was only a matter of time before she'd give in to the sheer strength of MaloMyotismon's attack.

And then it came. Garudamon couldn't no longer endure the pain as it became too much for her. After when one last meteor slamed itself on her back, she digidevolved to a tired and weakened Yokomon. But MaloMyotismon's bombardment didn't stop. It continued to bomb the cliffs the Digidestined stood on and the digimon who were doing their best to protect them. The next meteor was already on its way down at the threesome.

"_So this's how we meet our end, huh. Than I guess that it means that we failed everyone. I'm sorry, please forgive us for our failure _" Taichi thought to himself somberly. This was it; the day he'd finally meet his fate. He was ready for it as he closed his eyes again and protected Sora with his body, knowing that it wouldn't help her anyway. Taichi thought that right now, he'd feel that smashing force on his back for just one moment, and then he'd feel nothing, but yet again, he didn't feel anything.

Taichi once again opened his eyes and turned them around to see WarGreymon protecting them this time.

"WarGreymon?" Taichi asked in surprise.

"Taichi..." WarGreymon started but he found it difficult to continue as those meteors were slaming down at his back. While his armour did protect him, he still felt pain each time one of those burning rocks hit him, and that made it difficult for him to much as talk to his human partner.

"...stay down. This...will...be...over...soon. I ca...can handle...this. Do...don't...worry...for me" WarGreymon finished, his back still getting hit by those meteors. He hoped that it'd be over soon, not only for his friends, but for himself as well. His armour started to crack by the sheer force those meteors brought down at him, and if his armour broke, they all would be done for.

By pure luck, it finally stopped just when WarGreymon's armour was about to break. When the meteor shower stopped, WarGreymon digidevolved to an exhausted Koromon. Taichi let go of Sora to pick up Koromon to see if he was okey.

"Koromon, are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah...I'm good" Koromon answered with a tired voice.

Taichi smiled to see his digimon partner alive and well, if bruised.

"You did well, Koromon. I'm glad you're ok"

Koromon smiled at his human partner.

"And I'm glad you're ok as well, Taichi. You, Sora and Yokomon" Koromon said as he turned his eyes at Sora and Yokomon. Both girls were looking at the boys with gratitude.

"Thank you for protecting me, you two" Sora said with a smile on her face.

"Yeah...thank you" Yokomon also said with a smile on her face. She wasn't only grateful to Koromon, but to Taichi as well since he tried to shield her best friend with his own body from those rocks.

Before any more dialogue could appear between the four individuals, a loud, evil laugher cut through the dark landscape, and it caught their attention as they all turned their heads to the source, which once again was MaloMyotismon. They saw that the bloodred beam was gone, but the monster himself remained, looking more amused than he ever was.

"I can't believe it! You bring an entire army here, and yet you still lose to my might! You've grown weak my dear Digidestined! Weak and stupid! This's the saddest thing I've ever witnessed from your part!" MaloMyotismon mocked the Digidestined, and then chuckled to himself. Those fools might have thought that they'd him there they wanted, but in reality, it was the opposite. After all those digibrats shot out their light beams at their pets, he knew that it was only a matter of time before they'd arrive to the battlefield to aid their filthy pets, so just to fool them, he'd pretended that the lights had harmed him in order to bait them. To make them come to the Digital World so that he could then finish them of in one go.

And whatever if some Digidestined died or not, at least all of their partners were knocked out by his Blood Rain attack so they were unable to stop him now.

In short, he'd sprung a trap and the stupid rats happily took the bait.

Now, no one could stop him.

"Hey, you! We ain't done yet!"

MaloMyotismon looked down at where that challenge came from, and he saw the same brats and their digimon runts who he'd fought from the start glaring up at him with the same defiance. He rose an invisible eyebrow in surprise as they looked rather well. The digimon were still in their ultimate levels, and their bruises were just as the same as before, which meant that they hadn't received any new wounds from his Blood Rain attack, but than again, he'd aimed that attack on those on the cliffs, and not on the small valley below as they were on.

"So...still alive I see! Any begging you want to do?!" MaloMyotismon asked them as he grinned gleefully.

"Not to the likes of you!" Takeru answered with poison in his voice.

MaloMyotismon just shook his head and chuckled a low chuckle. Those children still didn't get it.

"Still wants to fight, huh? Well, if it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get! My work on the real world is done, so now I can finally do you in as I always wanted to do! I've waited three years for this moment, and I'll not let it slip!" MaloMyotismon said as he cracked his neck to prepare himself for the coming battle.

"Let the battle begin!" MaloMyotismon said while he cracked his claws and grinned a confident grin at the fools who were still willing to continue their pointless fight.

* * *

The remaining digimon knew that they were fighting a hopeless battle. That earlier hope they felt before had been crushed by MaloMyotismon's darkness like a bug crushed by a human foot. They'd paid with blood and sweat in this battle, and yet it hadn't been enough. MaloMyotismon had proven himself to be a foe beyond their strength and endurence, and he'd defeated all of their allies, who they'd thought could change the tide in this hard battle, with an attack they thought he didn't possess. The light that was their main source of strength had been useless against that monster, and his darkness had swept it away as if it was only a nuisance. MaloMyotismon was a foe that was unlike anything they'd fought before, and the remaining digimon knew that they likely had already lost this battle, thus how do you beat an enemy who had defeated even death itself on its own game?

The remaining digimon still standing were bruised, tired, wounded and out of any hope for victory, but yet they continued on. Still ready to fight on, because they were the last line of defence of anything good that existed on the worlds. They might fight a lost battle, but their cause still was alive, and that alone gave them the strength to fight on. Their chances for victory might be nil, but they just couldn't let this monster claim his prize because if they did, tyranny beyond anything that had ever existed before would rule over both worlds, and anything good would die by the poisonous hands of the darkness. So thats why they were still fighting, despite everything that were against them.

"Gate of Destiny!"

"Celestial Arrow!"

"Static Force!"

"Justice Beam!"

"Screaming Darkness!"

Once again, MaloMyotismon protected himself with a shield of darkness that reflected the attacks back to the digimon. This time, however, the digimon got out of the way before they could get hit. They'd learned how MaloMyotismon's defences worked, and so almost had adapted after them. But that didn't mean that the battle became easier to fight. The digimon were still being pushed to their limits as MaloMyotismon attacked again.

"Crimson Mist!"

That dreaded mist that had melted Mummymon into nothing made its second appearance on the battlefield, this time aimed at MagnaAngemon. MaloMyotismon had figured out that he was the field leader of that petty, pathetic holdout, and that if he was killed, the tiny morale those pests still had would die.

MagnaAngemon felt his heart almost stop in dread as that mist came closer to him, but he did get out of its way before it could hit him. Before he could breath out in ease, he felt a slaming force attacking him at his front, as MaloMyotismon hardly slapped him backhanded. MagnaAngemon flew fast toward one of the cliffs before his back hit it. Pain ran through his body, and specially in his burned wing did it really hurt.

MagnaAngemon's head became dizzy after that slap, and he felt ill. It was difficult for him to see right behind his helmet as the dizziness made it hard for his eyes to see anything in straight lines. He saw colours and figures everywhere, and he'd a hard time remembering the fight. He tried to get out of the hole the impact created but the pain and the dizziness caused him to forget that he was twenty feet up, and that he'd to fly out. When he sat one foot out of the hole, trying to walk out of it, he fell out of it and down to the ground, causing more pain and dizziness in him.

MaloMyotismon laughed at MagnaAngemon, as he found it comical to see him in the state he was at.

"You were the one who defeated the leader of the Dark Masters himself, and you can't even endure something less of a slap?! You're truely weak!" MaloMyotismon said as he – without even looking – took hold of Shakkoumon's fist before it could hit him from his right side. If he could, Shakkoumon would've gasped in shock as he was dumbfounded by what MaloMyotismon just did.

MaloMyotismon turned to his right to see a surprised Shakkoumon in his hold and grinned, as he enjoyed to see the shock in Shakkoumon's eyes.

"All of you are weak!" MaloMyotismon finished before he, without that much of force, pushed Shakkoumon at the cliff after he released that disfigured digimon's fist. The force was enough to leave an impact when Shakkoumon hit the cliff.

"And do you want to know why you're so weak?! It's because you were created that way by the Sovereigns and their petty order! When they decided to hand you over to those human children, they made sure you would be weaker than the average digimon! And do you know why they did so?! Because you'd be in the hands of humans, and they knew that sooner ot later, one of your so called "partners" will use you as their tool for their own ambitions, and one of those ambitions could be the complete conquest of the Digital World, so just in case that ever happens, your powers would be too weak to be any use for them, and it'd also be easier for the Sovereigns to defeat you and your human masters!" MaloMyotismon said to the digimon, hoping that it'd grow the seed of mistrust and doubt between them and the Digidestined.

"You're wrong! We'd never use our partners like that! How can you even believe that we'd ever use them as tools for something horrible like conquering the Digital World?!" Hikari screamed at that monster who had the nerve to claim that she and her friends only saw their digimon partners as simple tools. It shocked the girl to hear someone speaking like that, as if they were just like him; greedy psychopaths who wanted nothing but power and dominance. Hikari couldn't imaginate herself or any Digidestined resorting to such evil as world conquest, and even if she could, she couldn't imaginate a Digidestined doing that act on their own free will.

"Oh, but you will! Once your childhood innocence is gone, and you become full grown adult, you'll find yourself hearing those instinct that controls all life telling you to use the digimon for your own advantage! Didn't you ever ask yourself why the Sovereigns recruited you children by force, and not adults like it should be obvious to do, to fight their own war against my kind?! It's because they knew that if they recruited human adults as their warriors, those adults would inevitably ask themselves why they're fighting deadly battles against their own will for some overgrown freaks that claims themselves to be gods, but yet don't dare to defend themselves and their world as they, as gods, should do without any problems! And after they'd asked themselves that, they'd be uncontrollable and start abusing the powers given to them! But you children are still innocent, and so easier for the Sovereigns to control and use!" MaloMyotismon said to Hikari as he punched Silphymon away from his face before he could charge up his next attack, causing the hybrid digimon to fly toward a cliff before he painfully hit it.

"That's big talk comming from you! You who have done nothing but abusing your powers! Who're you to claim that we'd do something like that when you and the rest of your kind does nothing but that?!" Takeru screamed at MaloMyotismon with all the hate he'd toward that monster. How dared it claim that they'd ever become like it in the future? How the rulers of the Digital World distrusted them and only saw them as simple pawns to cower behind? How humanity in large seemed to be just the same as its own kind?

"Oh, please! Your kind is just like mine! The only difference is that we're literally programmed that way, while you humans have the ability to choose! Everyday, your kind does nothing but abusing, using and destroying each other for petty reasons, all while having the balls to pretend like they're doing that for the good of their species! Hell, your world havn't even been controlled by the darkness for one day, and already it's burning in chaos! It disgust me to say this, but you humans have the potential to become the most powerful species ever, but yet you throw away that potential for petty reasons like political and monetary status, but that's your lost! You'd your chance and you wasted it! Now, it's my turn, and I'll make sure I'll not make the same mistake you kind did!" MaloMyotismon argued to Takeru while he slapped his tail at a charging Angewomon, causing her to fly toward Silphymon, who tried to get out of the hole on the cliff before Angewomon slamed right at him, causing him more pain and almost winding him.

"How can you say something like that?! How can you've such a low opinion on us and humanity itself?! We've done everything we could to help this world, and yet you stand there claiming that all we ever do are for selfish reasons! Like you're so much better than us?! Like everything you've ever done had enriched the lives of others?!" Miyako shouted at MaloMyotismon, completely disgusted by that vampire freak's argument about mankind as if they were a bunch of psychos. As if they were just like him.

"You've no right to say something like that! You yourself have done nothing but bringing pain and suffering to both worlds, and for what?! Nothing but for power! You've no right to tell us that we're monsters when you're the only monster here! You're the one who brought this war upon the worlds, and caused suffering to both digimon and humans alike! You're the real monster here, and nothing you say will change that! We'll not fall for your words no matter how hard you try to break us with them!" Iori shouted at MaloMyotismon with an unusual highly emotional tone. He knew that he should keep himself calm and collected as usual, but he just couldn't help it. The battle, and all its horrors, had cracked the collected mask he'd hidden behind for most of his life, and the emotional child behind had taken over him as he shouted at MaloMyotismon with disgust, fear and hate in his voice. That monster had done its best crushing Iori's belief that everyone who had done bad could be redeemed, as it was now beyond redemption. And its pessimisstic speech about them and humanity in large disgusted Iori so much that he felt sick to hear it, and it greatly reinforced his belief that some individuals really were evil in heart and only deserved harsh punishment, and MaloMyotismon was the kind of evil who deserved nothing but the ultimate punishment.

"Last time I remember, you were the one who harmed our friends, killed your faithful followers, and almost destroyed the Digital World in your mad quest for power! Your sins are beyond forgiveness and you'll be punished for everything you've done!" MagnaAngemon said to MaloMyotismon. While the Digidestined and MaloMyotismon argued about the true role of the children and the nature of humanity, MagnaAngemon's head had clared its dizziness out so that he could hear what they talked about, and just like the children, he was disgusted to hear what that butcher had to say. Who was he to say those poisonous words after what he'd done? Fuelled by righteousness, MagnaAngemon prepared himself for his next attack.

Realizing what MagnaAngemon was about to do, the other digimon quickly caught their wits and charged up for their next attack as well.

"Gate of Destiny!"

"Celestral Arrow!"

"Static Force!"

"Justice Beam!"

And just like the last time, the attacks shot out of the digimon and toward MaloMyotismon, but just like the last time, and the times before, he was prepared for them.

"Screaming Darkness!"

And a shield of darkness surrounded MaloMyotismon and protected him from the attacks. When the attacks hit the shield, they were reflected back at the digimon, who barely got out of the way. However, MaloMyotismon was quick in charging up for his own attack.

"Alright, enough of this little debate! Screaming Darkness!"

Dark winds shot out of MaloMyotismon and hit the digimon head on. The force was so strong that the digimon were pulled by it without any resistance, and they were slammed at the cliffs once again. The hit almost caused them to lose their consciousness, since MaloMyotismon had used more strength into the attack than before. If MaloMyotismon wanted, he could've killed them right there, right now, but as he was consumed by his own arrogance, he didn't take the chance since he wanted to play with them some more. He wanted them to lose themselves to despair and defeatism before death. He wanted them to die like vermins, and killing them right now as they were laying there on the ground almost unconscious would've been too easy and painless for them in his taste. After what they did to him, they didn't deserve a quick and painless death. No, they deserved a painful, torturous fate, full with despair and agony, and nothing less.

He wanted to see the despair in their eyes before he rip their heads off, and as he looked down at the one digimon who endured his attack enough to remain fully conscious, his encitement was running wild inside him as he'd plans about her fate that were more...tasteful than simple vengeful murder.

Angewomon could tell that the battle wasn't in her and her friends' favour. No matter how much they tried, they couldn't even much as sore that demonic creature in digimon skin. They were no longer fighting a battle against evil for the fate of both worlds, but a battle for their own survival. But to flee was out of the question, since she and her friends were the last line of defense, and if they ran away, it'd be the end of all, and she couldn't allow that, no matter how hopeless it was.

Though she didn't know how she could fight her former master when he clearly had proven himself more powerful than all the Digidestined and their digimon combined. It was obvious to her that MaloMyotismon was just playing around with them, treating the battle more of an amusing playtime rather than a battle, and that was the only reason why they were still alive. It reminded her of the Digidestined's final battle against Piedmon.

The only difference was that not even Piedmon was as powerful as MaloMyotismon.

Hell, she believed that not even Apocalymon was as powerful as MaloMyotismon.

Pain was all she felt after that hard hit. It was in her entire body, and it hurt to even breath. Fortuantely enough, she was the only one fully conscious, and she only had her highly pain tolerence, born from a life of hardships, to thank for. As she was fully conscious, she could hear those heavy steps getting closer to her, and by each step, the ground beneath her heavily shook, telling her on likely who was walking toward her.

The steps finally stopped next to her, and then she heard a gleeful voice calling down to her from above, which sent chills through her back as she heard the bloodthirst in that voice.

"Hello there, my dear"

Almost frozen with fright, Angewomon looked up to see MaloMyotismon watching her with that horrifying grin on his lips, showing off all those predator-like teeth, and with those soulless eyes which beamed with a hunger which Angewomon's instincts told her wasn't just for her life, but also for something else. What that something else was she didn't know, and she didn't want to know either. In fact, the only thing she wanted now was to be as far away from that beast as possible, now that he'd his attention on her, his evil penetrating to her very own soul.

Before she could do anything, MaloMyotismon quickly bent down and picked her up with his left hand. He pulled his prey up so that he could see her face to face, while Angewomon was trying to get out of his grip, but it was impossible. His grip was just too strong for her, and it didn't help that his strength was causing more pain in the already bruised up and wounded digimon.

"Oh, I haven't forgotten about you, my dear. I haven't forgotten your betrayal, or how you shot me in the heart. I took you in when you were out starving in the wildness, alone and without anyone to help you. I helped you to survive, I helped you digievolve to your next level without resorting to something petty like human aid, I made you my second-in-command, I gave you power, influence and respect, and how did you thank me? By becoming a slave to a weak human and then shooting me in cold-blood. Your traitorous act took away my victory, and for the next three years I dreamed of nothing but revenge on you, revenge that would be different from what I'd bring to your new allies. I dreamed only on how I'd tear your limbs apart one by one. On how I'd skin you alive, or how I'd boil you alive, or how I'd crush every bone in your body. Oh, there were so many ways I dreamed on how I'd punish you for your betrayal that I lost the count. But I think I found something that will be enough for me" MaloMyotismon ranted at the struggling Angewomon with, at first, a barely restrained cold tone, as behind that coldness there was a burning, storming rage just waiting to burst out, but as he finished the last sentence off, the familiar glee returned to his voice.

When MaloMyotismon finished the last sentence, Angewomon stopped struggling, looked up at MaloMyotismon's face and, despite of herself, was completely petrified by that soulpiercing look in his eyes. It was like as if she was his servent again, when he could just look at her and that would've been enough to terrify her into a scared lapdog. The old trauma from that time, which she'd thought was gone after she became Hikari's partner, returned with full force and it made her so terrified that she didn't even blink, as so in fear she was so that she thought if she even moved one inch, her former master would savagely tear her apart.

"What...do you...have in mind?" Angewomon asked in a fearful tone. While she might have the body of a powerful angel, her mind had been reduced to that of the beaten dog from the early part of her life, frightened and scared of her master's whip, and her voice, usually strong and strict but kind and warm, was now nothing but a fearful whimper.

MaloMyotismon chuckled to himself as he enjoyed to hear the shaking terror in his traitorous servent's voice. It didn't matter how her body changed by each digievolution, deep inside her mind, he still was her master, and all he did was reminding that repressed part of her mind of that fact. He also chuckled as he'd waited for that question, since he'd a very satifying answer to it. Satifying to him, thats it.

"Oh, I've my little idea of punishment for your betrayal. At first, it was just a simple execution, but during my years inside Oikawa, I thought out of something that would be so much better. Something that not even your death could beat, or even the dreams of my future kingdom could beat in making me happy and determent to reach the finish line. And here is a hint of what my plan for you is." MaloMyotismon said to Angewomon, and then he did something that took her by such surprise that she didn't resist.

He licked her.

Yes, MaloMyotismon, the most resilient adversary of the Digidestined, licked Angewomon without caring about those around him, and he didn't just give her a quick lick, like a unsure dog tasting something new, but a prolonged lick that took in the very taste of the shocked digimon. His long tongue took in the taste it got from Angewomon's exposed skin, and MaloMyotismon enjoyed to no end that taste. She tasted like a young human, so good so that for a quick moment, he felt the need to bite her for the red liquid inside. Her skin was so smooth and so tasteful so that it reinforced his craving for what he'd in mind for her, and his excitment was so high that he barely could control himself.

Angewomon couldn't even eep as she was so taken by surprise by MaloMyotismon's act. Out of everything she'd expected her former master would do, this was not one of them. This act just came out of nowhere, and Angewomon didn't know how to deal with it. What she did know was that she was disgusted by that slimy wetness that came from that one bit of muscle and how it covered her body with it, sending chills through her back, and by that horrible breath that came out of his mouth, which smelled like blood and rotten meat. But most of all, what disgusted her the most was on how he deliberately prolonged his disgusting act. It wasn't a quick act, which was done in a moment. No, it was a prolonged act which took a good minute or two, and MaloMyotismon used his tongue to explore and taste every part of her body, without caring one bit about her dignity or about all those people around who stared at the scene with awe, surprise, disgust, disbelief and something else. When his tongue explored at her more exposed parts of her body, she felt chills running through her back with such force that she thought she'd fly off his claws, but she remained paralyzed. Also, as disgusting and shocking as his act was, Angewomon felt some small part of her inside that actually _enjoyed_ what MaloMyotismon did to her body. She didn't know why there were conflicting emotions inside her about this act, but they were there. Also, her face heated up for some strange reason, and she didn't know if it'd to do with the position she was at or not.

After MaloMyotismon finished his licking of Angewomon, she got some courage enough to look at his eyes, and she saw how they were sparkling with wild, savage glee, even more than usual, and it creeped her out.

"Why...did you do that?" Angewomon asked her former master, her curiosity winning over her fear.

MaloMyotismon chuckled in amusement, as if he knew she'd ask that question.

"As I mentioned before, I planned to kill you, but during my years inside Oikawa, I got other plans. During my three years inside him, I became...familiar with the instincts of the human male. As I became one with Oikawa, I also became one with those primal instincts that humans are made off, and as I became one with them, new desires and fantasies appeared inside my mind. At first I was disgusted by them, considering they were originally human desires, but now they appeal to me. After I became familiar with them, I wanted to test out the fantasies they brought out in me, and you, my dear, has the honour to be my little guinea pig." MaloMyotismon said with that knowing grin on his lips.

Angewomon gasped in sheer shock by what MaloMyotismon just said. Did he really thought of doing _that_ with her? A fellow digimon?

"...no." she wispered, too shocked to bring in more strength in her refusal.

"Well, if not me, than the first thing I'll do when I arrives to the real world is to hand you over as a gift to humans depraved enough to ignore the fact that you're of an entire different species. I'm sure that those humans will be forever grateful to me, no matter what I do to their world or to the rest of their kind, when I hand you over as their pleasure toy." MaloMyotismon said gleefully, so psychotic he'd become that his plans for such unnatural and evil acts did nothing but arouse him.

But Angewomon didn't share his desires. When she finally realized that she heard right on what he just said, and that he actually would do _it_ on her, she just stared in utter shock at MaloMyotismon. And then her mind played that disgusting scene inside her head, and she saw how his claws were everywhere on her body, taking hold on her more womanly parts with a demanding and greedy grip, on how his tongue was forcing its way down her mouth and roughing up her own tongue in its desire to show its holder's dominance over her, on how her wings were long gone so that she wouldn't escape him when he'd his way with her, and on how his new additional limb was forcing itself down in her most sacred part and doing it like a savage beast controlled by its most primal instincts, his reason and self-controll thrown right out of the window a long time ago.

Needless to say, that fantasy caused nothing but disgust and panic to roam free inside Angewomon's body, and made the usual graceful digimon to act anything but graceful, as she was shaking herself violently in MaloMyotismon's grip in a desperate attempt to free herself, while screaming like a terrified child.

"NO! I'LL NOT BECOME YOUR SLAVE AGAIN, SPECIALLY OF THAT KIND, YOU SICK, PSYCHOPATHIC FREAK! LET ME GO! I'LL NOT BE YOUR PLEASURE TOY SO RELEASE ME NOW! DIDN'T YOU HEAR ME, LET ME GO! LET ME GO! LET ME GO! RELEASE ME DAMMIT! LET ME GO YOU MONSTER OR I'LL BLOW YOUR DAMN HAND OFF!"

But all her panickily resistance did was making MaloMyotismon ever more aroused. As he watched her futile attempt to escape his grip and defile her fate, it made him excited as he was looking foward to the challange of taming her into his new comfort slave. She'd always been a spunky digimon, and taming her the first time was quite the challange, but he'd done it before and he'd do it again. And when she was tamed again, she'd enjoy her new job as his pleasure slave, begging for more when he was satified enough with her for the day. Yes, MaloMyotismon's excitement was as high as it could be, and it looked like that he'd force himself upon Angewomon, despite her panickily breakdown, right now, as he neared his face with his tongue out to the panicked digimon, when suddenly, he felt a stinging pain on the hand he held Angewomon with.

The pain took MaloMyotismon by surprise, and it was powerful enough to cause him to let go of Angewomon as he withdrew his hand to his body and held it tenderly. He looked around to see who dared to disturb his time with his former servent and earn his eternal wrath, and he saw MagnaAngemon with his glowing sword out and his lips twisted to a sneer of pure hatred toward him.

When MagnaAngemon, along with his friends, was slammed to the cliff by MaloMyotismon's dark winds, he'd almost lost his consciousness and his mind had fought if it should remain awake in the painful reality or give in to the swipping darkness that tempted him with painless bliss and escape from the cruel reality. After a long struggle, his mind decided to remain awake as he still had a battle to fight, despite the pain that waited for him, and after a while, his mind cleared enough to see Angewomon in MaloMyotismon's claws. When he heard what that monster planned to do with her, something inside him finally snapped.

Through the whole day, that monster had tried his patience by the aweful things it'd done, and through the whole battle, MagnaAngemon had tried to remain cool and collected, as he knew that an angry mind would only cause mistakes and misjudges for him, but it'd been hard. That monster had done worse things in just one day than what the Dark Masters did during their reign of terror. But now that he heard what that beast planned to do with Angewomon...it was finally the last drop that MagnaAngemon could take, and now he only saw red. It wasn't enough that this monster had butchered Ken, oh no. Now that monster had the depravity to actually plan to turn Angewomon, MagnaAngemon's closest friend after Takeru, into a slave of _that_ kind. Yes, MagnaAngemon had hung around with humans long enough to know exactely _what _MaloMyotismon wanted to do with Angewomon, and as mentioned before, it caused him to finally snap.

And now MagnaAngemon was, as the humans say it, pissed off.

When his anger took hold of him, thoughts of death and revenge were all the angel digimon could think off. He wanted blood. He wanted revenge. He wanted both, and by the Sovereigns, he wouldn't stop until he finally had ripped MaloMyotismon's head off right out of his neck and made him pay for all the evil he'd done in his mad quest for power.

The rage turned out to be one hell of an anesthetic, as MagnaAngemon no longer felt any pain as he hovered in the air, glaring at MaloMyotismon with contempt and hatred.

After he withdrew his hand in pain and surprise, MaloMyotismon looked up with murderous rage on his face, and when he saw MagnaAngemon, he quickly shouted at the angel digimon with an angry, loud voice.

"YOU MISERABLE, LITTLE GNET! WHY DID YOU DO THAT FOR?! I WAS SO CLOSE TO HAVE MY WAY WITH HER, AND YOU JUST HAD TO GET IN THE WAY! YOU LITTLE WORM, I'LL TEAR YOU IN TWO FOR THAT! DID YOU HEAR ME?! I'LL TEAR YOU IN TWO!" MaloMyotismon screamed with all the rage and hatred he had, causing the entire landscape to tremble by the power of his voice and almost busting the eardrums of the Digidestined and their digimon.

But MagnaAngemon wouldn't allow himself to back down to that perverted psychopath. Glaring in defiant rage toward that monster, he came up with his own rant.

"YOU DEPRAVED MONSTER, HOW CAN YOU EVEN THINK OF DOING THAT KIND OF EVIL?! ISN'T IT ENOUGH WITH WHAT YOU'VE DONE ALREADY?! DO YOU'VE TO SINK TO SUCH LOW POINT THAT YOU'D ACTUALLY THINK OF DOING _THAT _CRIME, AND ON A FELLOW DIGIMON NO LESS?! DO YOU'VE NO SHAME?! FOR JUST THAT I'LL BRING YOU SUCH DEATH THAT YOU'LL BEG ME FOR MERCY, AND FOR EVERYTHING ELSE, I'LL MAKE YOUR DEATH AS PAINFULL AND PUNISHING AS POSSIBLE, JUST LIKE YOU'VE GIVEN TO THE VICTIMS OF YOUR MADNESS!" MagnaAngemon shouted at MaloMyotismon with such anger that it took every Digidestined and digimon alike with surprise, since he was the last one they expected would become so angry that he'd openly shout on how much pain he'd bring to his enemy. Even Takeru was surprised by his partner's sudden display of bloodthrist and need for vengeance. Granted, he too wanted to make MaloMyotismon pay for what he'd done, but still. This was just so out of character for his digimon partner, and it scared Takeru on how things would turn out.

But MaloMyotismon just smirked with a knowing smirk after he heard MagnaAngemon's shout, completely unafraid and unmoved by that little human-looking runt's rant.

"Ah, I get it now. You want her for yourself, don't you? She has become your little girlfriend and you want no one else to take her from you, huh." MaloMyotismon said and then chuckled in amusement before he became serious again, his smirk replaced by a sneer.

"Well, you can forget about it now. She was mine before you even met her. I'm just reclaiming what you took from me, and I'll not let you stop me so why don't you stand in line and wait for your turn like a good pet." MaloMyotismon said in a cold tone, his sentence like the hiss of a venomous serpent.

MagnaAngemon, now controlled by a rage he never had felt before and never thought he would, screamed out a loud war cry and then charged at MaloMyotismon with his sword pointed forward, ready to cut the monster into pieces.

MagnaAngemon attacked with all the rage he had and slashed at MaloMyotismon without stopping. And it must be working too, since each time he slashed his sword at MaloMyotismon, the monster immediately reacted in pain and shouted in anger. MagnaAngemon's need for revenge was so great that he didn't care that MaloMyotismon was at least twenty-thirty times his size, if not more, and that he was powered up by the powers of darkness, and just kept on attacking him. He didn't tire. He didn't feel pain. He didn't question his own brutality against that monstrous digimon. He didn't become surprised on how much of a different warrior he was in this moment, fueled by his own bloodthirst and hatred, fighting for himself and his need for revenge rather for the protection of the worlds. He only cared about cutting MaloMyotismon's head off. MaloMyotismon himself was trying to get MagnaAngemon off his back by swinging his claws at him, but MagnaAngemon was too quick and too angry to allow him to get him, and he continued to bring him pain.

But MagnaAngemon's rage was nothing compared to the might of MaloMyotismon's darkness, and MaloMyotismon was becoming more and more annoyed by the raging runt's stings. Sure, MaloMyotismon hadn't thought that MagnaAngemon would become this aggressive, and he was at first surprised by the angelic digimon's ferocity, but now that little runt was getting on his nerves. That small digimon's stings might be quick and painful, but his fight was just as futile like a wasp's fight with a full grown human: his attacks might be quick and painfull, but they weren't enough to actually harm, less defeat, MaloMyotismon, and after several failed attempts to get ride of MagnaAngemon, he concentrated himself at the runt as he was about to attack him again, and waited for the right moment.

MagnaAngemon was right about to cut MaloMyotismon again. He didn't wonder if his attacks were actually making any difference in his fight against that psychopath. As so long that monster reacted in pain each time he sliced at him, it was enough for the enraged digimon to believe that he'd kill that monster soon if he kept attacking, and so he did, clinging to his hope that this battle would soon end, with that disgusting beast dead and all its crimes repaid. But unfortuantely, MaloMyotismon was prepared for him, and when he was near enough, MaloMyotismon saw his chance and took it.

It happened so fast that MagnaAngemon didn't have the time to see it, no less moving away before he was caught. When he was close enough to MaloMyotismon, the dark digimon quickly moved his right arm, not for swinging MagnaAngemon away like before, but to catch him, and before he knew it, MagnaAngemon was in MaloMyotismon's grip, like Angewomon was some moments ago.

MaloMyotismon's grip was getting stronger as he twirled his claws harder around MagnaAngemon, who now couldn't breath well due to the near crushing strength. He tried to get out of MaloMyotismon's grip by pushing his claws away from him, but it was impossible. MaloMyotismon was just too strong from him, and it didn't help that the more strength he used to try get himself off, the more strength MaloMyotismon used in his grip. When he thought that he'd pass out or worse by the near strangulation, MagnaAngemon used the little energy he'd to look up, and he saw MaloMyotismon's face, and that familiar, nightmarish grin plastered on it. MaloMyotismon's eyes beamed with a hawk-like triumphant, like a predator that caught its well-earned prey, and MagnaAngemon felt his dread replacing his anger as he looked at those soulless eyes. Behind those eyes, he only saw an endless madness. An endless darkness that could bring entire worlds to ruins. Darkness that could bring even the most mightiest empires to their kneels.

"Caught you." MaloMyotismon said with that same glee from before, but with a more playful tone to it, and then he threw MagnaAngemon toward one of the cliffs. When MagnaAngemon hit the cliff, pain exploded inside his body like a bomb, and he would've screamed if he wasn't winded. Instead, his body gagged heavily, and only after a moment could he finally breath, right when he thought he was a gonner, and with the air, he produced mournful cries as the pain was unbelievable. If was like if someone had hit him with a huge sledgehammer, made of the hardest metal. The rage was now gone, and with it the painkilling effect it'd on his body, and dread took its place. His survival instincts were screaming in alarm, but his mind still had to recover from what he gazed at a moment ago.

In the midst of his mournfull crying, MaloMyotismon picked MagnaAngemon from the hole at the cliff that his throw had created, and then he started to slam MagnaAngemon head-first at the cliff without stopping or giving him time to recover.

"One!" MaloMyotismon counted after he slammed MagnaAngemon at the cliff the first time.

"Two!" he counted again as he slammed MagnaAngemon the second time, almost immediately after the first slam.

"Three!" he counted again after the third slam, and it went on like that, with MaloMyotismon loudly counting each time he slammed MagnaAngemon.

"STOP THAT! STOP THAT! RELEASE HIM AT ONCE, YOU SICK BASTARD! RELEASE HIM OR I'LL MAKE YOU PAY, YOU FILTHY PSYCHOPATH! STOP THAT, AND GIVE MY PARTNER BACK!" Takeru screamed in both rage and terror. He was terrified beyond all rational thought that it'd be like the battle against Devimon again, so terrified that he actually was trying to attack MaloMyotismon by himself, and it was only because of Miyako and Hikari holding him from doing anything stupid that he could only scream at that monster. He was trying to get loose of their grips so that he himself could kill that wretched animal with his bare hands, and save MagnaAngemon before it'd be too late, so enraged and terrified Takeru was that he didn't care that he was but a mere insect compared to MaloMyotismon's might.

The girls were holding Takeru from doing a suicide charge with all their strength. They remembered on how Daisuke did what Takeru was trying to do now, and how he brutally suffered the consequences by his enraged act, and they wouldn't let Takeru make the same mistake. Sure, they too were worried for MagnaAngemon and wished they could do anything to save him, but there were nothing they could do. Both girls knew that compared to MaloMyotismon, they were nothing.

"Takeru, stop! You just gonna kill yourself if you attack him! He's too strong for you! He's just gonna step on you, and thats it, you're dead! Please calm yourself down!" Hikari pleaded to the enraged animal that was her best friend, trying to reason with him and make him see the suicidal recklessness in what he was trying to do. She hoped that he'd calm himself down, because he was pretty physically strong, and she'd much difficulty holding him back. Hikari was sure that if it wasn't for Miyako's help, Takeru would've tossed her aside like nothing and then take MaloMyotismon head on in a desperate attempt to save his partner.

"I'LL NOT CALM MYSELF DOWN! HOW CAN I CALM MYSELF WHEN MY BEST FRIEND IS GETTING PUMMELED LIKE THAT! I'VE TO SAVE HIM BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE SO LET ME GO! DIDN'T YOU HEAR ME HIKARI?! LET ME GO!" Takeru screamed at her, like a wild animal, causing Hikari to almost losing it. Never had she ever seen Takeru like this, never as this enraged as he was now, and to see him scream right at her broke her heart. She never thought that Takeru, her best friend and protector, would ever reveal himself having such anger inside him, and she almost broke right there when she received his full rage. She was still trying to hold Takeru back when he kept trying to attack MaloMyotismon after his shout at her, but it was like holding a crazed dog back, and it didn't help that she herself was almost at the breaking point. The battle had been very emotionally exhausting, and all its evil had almost pushed her mind to the brink of insanity. This was more than what she could endure, and she could feel the despair slowly consuming her. Oh, she wished that both Ken and Daisuke were here with Imperialdramon, than maybe they would've won this battle by now.

"Are you nuts?! Do you plan to waste your life away when you should know that you don't stand a ghost of a chance against him?! He'll crush you like a bug if you try to take him down!" Miyako said to Takeru, who just refused to calm himself down. She'd tried to say that sentence with her usual bossy tone, but it'd failed and sounded like a bad parody of a bossy voice, showing how truely terrified she herself was. Things had completely gone to the gutter, and it was obvious that the monster was toying with them for his own amusement, and Miyako knew that the moment he become bored of them, it'd be game over for them in a second. Plus, Takeru was just as terrifying as that monster right now, with his downfall to animalistic panic and rage. The blond-haired boy was nothing like her friend. He was now a crazed, wild animal that sooner or later would rip her and Hikari apart if they didn't release it. Takeru's breakdown scared Miyako witless, and she would've been petrified by his rage the same way she was when she witnessed Daisuke's familiar form of rage if the sistuation didn't force her to push back that part of her fear. But she didn't know how long she could repress it, when it still was lurking in the corner of her soul, ready to jump out and consume her, and with Takeru getting more aggressive by each second...

"I DON'T CARE! MAGNAANGEMON NEEDS ME AND I'VE TO SAVE HIM! HE'LL DIE IF I DON'T SAVE HIM SO DAMMIT MIYAKO LET OFF ME! I MUST SAVE HIM AND I CAN'T DO IT WHEN YOU HARLOTS ARE HOLDING ME BACK LIKE THIS! RELEASE ME AT ONCE!" Takeru screamed back at Miyako, who along with Hikari was shocked to hear such profanity from Takeru, the last person they ever expected would use such ugly word.

Iori was watching Takeru's berserking behavior, and it terrified him so much that he couldn't even tremble, like a deer on the road facing a speeding car. This was the first time Iori ever saw this animalistic side of Takeru, and it cut through his soul with such sharping force to see his surrogate big brother reduced to this wild, savage, bloodthirty animal. Sure, he'd seen the darker side of Takeru before, but never had he seen this monstrous savagery from him, and Iori was so shocked and terrified by that enraged animal that was snarling and roaring in the girls' grips that he could only stare with utter – absolute utter – disbelief. That was not Takeru, but something entirely else. Takeru wouldn't ever allow himself to sink this deep in his hatred toward dark digimon. Iori refused to believe it was Takeru he was watching going berserk, but yet he knew that it really was Takeru he was watching with such fear and dread. He knew deep inside that he was watching the real side of Takeru Takashi, the side which he'd hidden behind friendly smiles and politeness for so long.

"...and fifthy!" MaloMyotismon counted as he slammed MagnaAngemon one last time before he stopped with his non-stop pummeling. He then dropped the angelic digimon and let him fall to the ground.

MagnaAngemon felt very ill. After that beating, he felt like something would burst right out of his head. The pain was pounding inside his head non-stop and made him feel like he'd throw up everything he'd eaten for the last week. His limbs hurt so much that he couldn't even more an inch without having pain exploding in his body. Some of his wings were burned and likely broken. His breathing produced a weird, raspy sound, and he couldn't breath normally and it hurt to do so, which scared him. His mind was in a dizzy state and was fighting if it should shut down or not.

That decision was made for him, as he still was painfully laying on the ground, feeling everything but well...he saw MaloMyotismon's foot above him, soon about to step on him and crush him like a bug. MagnaAngemon quickly reacted, and through his pain and dizziness he caught MaloMyotismon's foot just in time, but now he was struggling to keep MaloMyotismon's foot above him as that foot slowly pushed itself down at him, determent to crush him once and for all. If it'd been any other creature, MaloMyotismon would've crushed it without any resistance, but since MagnaAngemon was a creature of light, he was more resilient against MaloMyotismon's strength, but that didn't say much. His strength too weak after a hard and hopeless fight, MagnaAngemon couldn't no longer resist the strength of that gigantic foot, and it was on top of him. All it needed to do was to crush his armor and MagnaAngemon would be done for it.

He could feel his armor giving in to that giant foot's strength, and his arms were too weak to push it away from him. Knowing that his fate was imminent, MagnaAngemon closed his eyes, ready to accept it and face it with the dignity of a warrior of righteousness.

"_So this is the end...well, end of us, but not the end of our cause...you might win this battle, but others will fight on...and you'll be defeated...and your evil destroyed...sorry Takeru...please forgive me._"

This was it. The moment MaloMyotismon had waited for. The moment when his victory was complete, and it'd be complete when he finally crushed this worm beneath his foot. That creature was the only thing that inspired the other parasites to fight on even when it was obvious that he'd won, and when he was dead, the others would lose themselves in despair, and that would make them too much of easier preys to kill. Just one little squash, and thats it, everything would finally be his.

"Come on. Die. Die." MaloMyotismon said to that little worm beneath his foot who still was resisting his might, his voice filled with an unnatural form of bloodthirst. He was shaking with excitement, and his eyes beamed with gleeful, vengeful sadism. Three years he'd waited for this. Three years as nothing but a ghost he'd endured, his desire for revenge against the brats responsible for his defeat the only thing that kept his will going. Three years as nothing he'd endured, thanks to those filthy apes who ruined everything. They'd ruined everything, and now they'd finally pay for what they'd done. This was the moment his revenge would finally be his, and he'd enjoy it to the fullest.

But he didn't get to enjoy his soon-to-be revenge, since he felt a heating force attacking him from behind. The attack snapped MaloMyotismon out of his concentration on killing MagnaAngemon, and it threw him out of balance, completely taken by surprise. The one who attacked MaloMyotismon was no other than Shakkoumon.

Unlike Angewomon and MagnaAngemon, Shakkoumon became fully unconscious after he hit the cliff, and he woke up just resently, just in time to see MagnaAngemon beneath MaloMyotismon's foot. He'd reacted quickly, determent to save his friend, and shot out his Justice Beam at that psychotic freak just when he'd crush MagnaAngemon. His quick reaction saved MagnaAngmon's life just in time

MagnaAngemon felt that crushing force disappear from him, and he saw MaloMyotismon almost falling down to the ground before he caught his balance. Seeing his opportunity, MagnaAngemon immediately shot off the ground and flew away from MaloMyotismon, who looked at him with surprise and disbelief. Even if it hurt like hell, MagnaAngemon flapped his wings to get away from MaloMyotismon as fast as possible

"Why don't you pick a fight with someone of your own size!" Shakkoumon said in a cocky tone, his confidence boosted by his succeessful hit...which immediately disappeared when he heard MaloMyotismon's enraged roar.

MaloMyotismon's surprise had quickly turned into a rage that only a being like him could feel. He was so close to finally end this little charade, and that misfigured, overgrown piece of barely-sentient trash just had to get in the way. That freak ruined his fun, and now MaloMyotismon was enraged beyond any limits. His rage came out in a load roar that shook the entire landscape with its strength, and terrified Shakkoumon and everyone else witless. He was so damn close, and that slavish digimon denied him his well-deserved revenge, just when he'd claim it. Thats it, he'd tolerated thier little, pathetic, hopeless struggle long enough. If they wanted a fight, he'd grant them that. No more playing around, no more toying around, now he'd teach them how his kind truely fight.

Shakkoumon's ears almost busted by the sheer strength in that enraged monster's roar, and even if he covered his ears, the roar still got through. The roar was completely unnatural, and its strength was of such force that Shakkoumom actually could feel the darkness that came out of it. He could feel the frustration, the rage, the bloodlust and every dark feeling that came out, and it felt like they'd consume him like a raging tsunami consuming a primitive village. He could feel the endless hatred toward eveything and everyone, a hatred that didn't have any borders and surpressed even those of the universe itself. All that negativity was nothing Shakkoumon ever had felt before, and its limitless strength terrified him so much that he thought he'd snap any moment soon and never escape from the bottomless pit of insanity. Oh goodness, how could just one being possess so much darkness? How was it even possible that MaloMyotismon's hatred was of such nature that it was more like a unstoppable force than an actual feeling.

The roar stopped, and when Shakkoumon looked up, he saw MaloMyotismon running toward him in a feral, crazed way; his back hunched and his arms pointed foward with his claws out. His mouth was twisted in an enraged sneer, and all those sharp teeth revealed themselves in their fullest size, ready to tear limbs off. His eyes were burning with all consuming rage and hatred, and it gave MaloMyotismon the appearence of a berserking animal who didn't have any form of sentience, reason or rationality in him. Nothing but an all-consuming hunger for carnage. Shakkoumon didn't even have the time to mutter "oh crap" before MaloMyotismon was upon him and, without hesitation, started to pummel him with his bare hands.

MaloMyotismon didn't stop with his pummeling of Shakkoumon. He punched and punched and punched at Shakkoumon non-stop, and by each punch, he used more of his hatred to make it hurt more. That was all he lived for: hatred. He was created by hatred, he was made for hatred, he was controlled by hatred, and his hatred was now stronger than ever. He'd not stop until that thing was nothing but a memory, and so he continued to punch at Shakkoumon like a crazed, psychotic animal, causing much shock and pain in the towering digimon, all while he was screaming and shouting.

"HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT?! HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT?! YOU WANTED TO FIGHT, DIDN'T YOU?! WELL, GET UP AND FIGHT! COME ON, YOU PATHETIC, DISGUSTING, WEAK DISGRACE OF A DIGIMON, FIGHT BACK! IF YOU WANT TO BE A SLAVE TO THAT APE OF YOURS, THAN GET UP AND FIGHT ME! I'LL DESTROY YOU AND RIP YOUR LIMBS OFF ONE BY ONE! AND THEN I'LL RIP YOUR HEAD OFF AND KEEP IT AS MY TROPHY! I'LL MAKE YOU SUFFER, AND YOU'LL BEG FOR DEATH BEFORE I'M DONE WITH YOU!"

MaloMyotismon was so concentrated on making Shakkoumon suffer by his hands that he didn't see Shilphymon preparing himself to save Shakkoumon from his wrath.

"Static Force!" Shilphymon cried out when he released his attack, hoping it'd may be enough to save Shakkoumon, though inside, he doubted that.

The attack hit MaloMyotismon on his back, and it didn't even burn or sting him. All it did was telling MaloMyotismon that one of the other worms was trying to stop him, which he wouldn't tolerate. He immediately turned around and caught the surprised hybrid in his claws. And then he roared right at Shilphymon's face. The roar was so terrifying that Shilphymon was frozen in sheer terror when he received its full strength. Never had he ever heard such indigimon sound like this monster's demonic roar that made his limbs feel like jelly, and he couldn't even breath in his paralyzed panic.

After he finished with his roar, MaloMyotismon threw Shilphymon away, and then he started to rant in his anger.

"Why do you even try?! Face it, you're done! The only reason why you're still alive is because I allowed you to live so far, and that only because your petty struggle did nothing but entertain me! But now you're nothing but an irritation! You're nothing, did you hear me?! You're nothing! I won this battle before it even begun. Hell, I won this battle before you brats got in the way the first time three years ago! You think you're noble heroes, but you all are just a bunch of weak-willed, manipulated slave soldiers, with only death waiting for you! You're nothing but a bunch of hairless apes wishing to keep everything for yourselves, without knowing how truely pathetic and insignificent you are!" MaloMyotismon ranted to the Digidestined in his anger, not paying attention that Shakkoumon was slowly recovering from his shock.

Shakkoumon had a such terrible headache. It felt like something had smashed his head in and left one huge hole on it. Nearly unconscious after all that beating, everything he saw was blurry and miss-shapen, and the corners were covered in darkness, threating to cover his eyes entirely. Not to mention that his entire body was aching and that he felt like he'd pass out any moment soon. Needless to say, this wasn't one of his best days. This easily won the winning prize as his worst day ever in his life.

"_Man...my head hurts. Hurts so much. Wish this all would be over. I want to go home now_" Shakkoumon thought in his less than optimistic mood. Oh goodness, what did he do to deserve this?

But fortunately for him, MaloMyotismon's angry rant gave him time to recover from his near-unconsciousness, as that monster wouldn't stop himself. When Shakkoumon's dizziness was somewhat gone, though not entirely, he could almost clearly see MaloMyotismon on top on him, and he wondered why that psycho didn't continue with his berserking pummeling at him. Thats it, until he saw that MaloMyotismon was spending his time having a temper tantrum at everyone else but him, screaming and ranting like an inmature child. And he was only using cliché sentiences that beings like him like to use; like how he was unstoppable, how they were useless and nothing compared to him, and so on, so it wasn't exactly any entertaining for Shakkoumon to hear.

"_Man, that guy has some serious issues_" Shakkoumon snarkly thought to himself. Who could believe it? For all his might, he was just another weirdo who needed special help, and Shakkoumon was tired of allowing that sicko to push them around like that. He'd kick that psycho's sorry tail, but first he needed to get his heavy behind off him.

Focusing himself at the maniac, Shakkoumon gathered enough energy in his bruised body to shoot out another Justice Beam, in hope it'd be enough to force MaloMyotismon out of him. Though it was rather blurry, Shakkoumon could clearly see where MaloMyotismon's head was, and he aimed at the only weakness he was sure that steroid junkie had.

"Justice Beam!" Shakkoumon cried out as he shot out his attack, and MaloMyotismon, who stopped his ranting when he heard the cry, turned his face toward Shakkoumon and before he knew it, he felt a burning, heavily coloured beam hitting at his right eye. The pain was unbelievable as the beam burned away his eye, and the dark digimon jumped off Shakkoumon while screaming and twisting in pain and anger, his claws instinctively holding on the burned mark that used to be his right eye.

When that psychopath went off him like a rocket after one of his ugly eyes became barbecue, Shakkoumon was trying to get up, but he hardly could do it. The entire battle had pushed him through his limits, and his lucky hit had taken almost all of the energy he'd left, so now he was both extremely tired and exhausted, with barely enough energy to crawl, less continue this battle.

"_Ah man, this is not my lucky day today._" Shakkoumon thought after his attempts to get up only caused his body to ache even more. But he wasn't the digimon who gave up that easily, so after he bit the bullet, he forced himself to get up, and after some difficulty, he was finally on his feet. But it hurt like hell to even stand up, and when he limpered slowly toward that screaming maniac, pain exploded inside him by each step he took. After just five or six steps, he'd to face the fact that it was hopeless. If it felt like something had smashed his body ten times over by each step he took, how the hell was he supposed to fight MaloMyotismon, when all he suffered from was just a burn that likely only made him more angrier?

"_Ah, what the hell. I'm done. We're all done. We just have to face it: that psycho has won, and we've lost, so it's so over for us. With this aching pain, there's no way I can beat him now. We all may well write our last testaments. Oh, Daisuke, you may be a tough kid, but you were sadly wrong this time. We can't beat this maniac, he's too strong for us. If only you, Ken and Imperialdramon were here to help us, than maybe we could._" Shakkoumon thought to himself, his spirit ready to sink itself to the pit of despair. It was now only a waiting game before that psychopath would stop with his screaming and kicking around, and crush them the moment he turned back his pissed off attention at him and his friends.

"Friends" a familiar voice said behind Shakkoumon, who looked around to see MagnaAngemon. Shakkoumon would've been elated to see his friend still alive and at his side in their final stand if it wasn't how terrible MagnaAngemon looked. Bruises and wounds that would've been bleeding horrible if MagnaAngemon was a organic creature were married to his body. His armour was way beyond any repairs and had so much cracks, and his clothes were so torn and filled with so many tears that Shakkoumon could actually see the human-like skin behind. Some of MagnaAngemon's wing were bent and out of place, and one of them had a really nasting looking burn that smelled horrible, like deeply burned skin. The feathers of that wing were almost all burned away. It only remained as an ugly, bad-smelling, almost bare limb, and it looked so horrible that Shakkoumon couldn't help but cringe in disgust. How could MagnaAngemon possible remain in the air in his condition? Well, based on MagnaAngemon's clenching teeth and tense breathing, it wasn't easy for him since he obviously was in greater pain than Shakkoumon, and he likely remained in the air only through sheer force of will.

"Friends" MagnaAngemon said again through his tense, painful breathing, trying to gain their attention for what he'd to say to them. His friends heard his summoning despite that aweful screaming from their enemy and gathered around him. Shakkoumon, Angewomon and Shilphymon were next to MagnaAngemon, ready to hear him out, trying to repress the feelings of disgust they got when they saw MagnaAngemon's heavily burned wing.

"Friends...we've to...face it. We can't...beat him...ind...indi...individually. He's too...strong." MagnaAngemon said, each word a great challange for him to produce.

"Like we havn't noticed. Trying to beat him is like trying to punch through a brick wall in your rookie level. I don't know about you guys, but I'm out and I don't know what we can do now." Shakkoumon said to MagnaAngemon, unaware what he was going to with his summoning.

"Well...I've...actually...an idea...how to...stop him." MagnaAngemon said to Shakkoumon, hoping it'd bring some hope to his demoralized comrades.

"Like what?" Shakkoumon asked, unsure if whatever plan MagnaAngemon had would actually help them at this point.

"Angewomon." MagnaAngemon suddenly called for his female counterpart.

"Yes?" Angewomon meekly asked her male counterpart, her face grimacing in both shock and worry.

"Do you...rem...ember...how we...beat...him first...time?" MagnaAngemon asked Angewomon, trying to make his sentiences short as it hurt to speak even one word.

"Yes" Angewomon said with a little more confidently, believing where MagnaAngemon was going to.

"What if...we...use...the same...tactic...again. Might...work." MagnaAngemon said to Angewomon, hoping she'd see his plan that might can save them.

"You think it'll work? He's obviously more powerful than the first time, and we're fewer now, so are you sure of it?" Angewomon asked, unsure if MagnaAngemon's plan would help them this time.

"We...must try. The...only option...we've...left." MagnaAngemon answered.

"Alright, than lets try it out" Angewomon said with determination in her voice. After her "moment" with MaloMyotismon, she'd spent the rest of the battle just staring in shell shock, as the trauma had been to much for her and caused her to shut down mentally, but now her determination had returned, and she'd fight on with every bit of the energy she'd left. And if she died, at least it'd be better than suffer _that_ kind of fate.

"Alright. This is...how we...do. She'll...do her...Holy Air...and we'll...use all...our...energy...to form attacks...and aim them...at the...ring...so that...she can...use them...for her...next attack...on him." MagnaAngemon managed to explain to Shakkoumon and Shilphymon on their roles in his plan.

"Hey, wait a minute. If we use all our energy for the next step in your plan, don't we risk to digidevolve to our rookie levels, if not in-training levels?" Shakkoumon asked, thinking that MagnaAngemon's plan sounded more like a desperate last gambit than an actual plan.

"Thats the risk we've to take. We're already losing this fight and if it continues the way as before, we'll surely lose. But if we follow MagnaAngemon's plan, than maybe we've a chance." Angewomon answered for MagnaAngemon, since he already was in enough pain.

"Well, I don't know if it'll really work, but I'll play along. It's not like we've any choice." Shakkoumon said, accepting the fact that MagnaAngemon's plan was the only thing they could do to push the battle to their favor.

"Ok. Angewomon...are you...ready?" MagnaAngemon asked his female counterpart.

Angewomon nodded. She then rose her arms up to the dark sky and gathered energy to pull off her Holy Air.

"Holy Air!" she cried out, and out of her up-pointed arms came a pink-coloured ring of glowing light that shot up to the dark sky, ready to consume the energy from the others' attacks and use it for the next step in their plan.

"Ok...guys...are you...ready?" MagnaAngemon asked Shakkoumon and Shilphymon.

"Count me on." Shakkoumon answered back, his despair replaced by hope and determination.

"Ok. Lets...do it." MagnaAngemon said and then he gathered up all the energy he'd left for his attack.

"Gate of Destiny!"

"Justice Beam!"

Shilphymon didn't hear what his comrades discussed, and that was because his hearing became heavily damaged by MaloMyotismon's up-close roar. That roar was beyond what his ears could endure, and it'd damaged them enough so that he was basically deaf now. He didn't hear MagnaAngemon's summoning when he called for him and the others, and only appeared next to the angel digimon when he saw the others comming up to him. As the others discussed MagnaAngemon's plan, he could only look in confusion and wonder what they talked about. When Angewomon shot out her Holy Air, he only stared in wonder of what she planned to do. But when the others shot out their attacks toward that pink, glowing ring, he figured out that whatever his friends' plan was, he should try to follow their examples, and even if it looked weird that they attacked Angewomon's glowing ring instead of MaloMyotismon, he gathered up energy for his own attack.

"Static Force!"

And so all the three attacks hit the inside of the glowing ring, causing it to charge up with strong, green-colured, electric energy. However, the energy required to form those attacks was literally all the three digimon had left, and without it, they could no longer remain in their ultimate levels and they digidevolved to their in-training levels. The last thing MagnaAngemon did before he digidevolved to Tokomon was thinking one last thought of goodwill to Angewomon.

"_Good luck_"

And then he and his weakened comrades fell toward the ground, a fall that likely would kill them in their digidevolved, bruised and wounded bodies, but fortuantely, their human partners were quick on their feet and caught their digimon partners.

"Tokomon, are you ok?" Takeru asked his digimon partner, worried out of his mind for Tokomon's well-being.

"_Please don't let it be like Devimon again! Please answer me!_"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just need sleep." Tokomon weakly answered to Takeru, who smiled in happiness, knowing that Tokomon would be ok.

"Upamon, are you alright?" Iori asked his digimon partner, also worried out of his mind for Upamon's well-being. When MaloMyotismon beat Shakkoumom up, Iori was absolutly horrified that Shakkoumon would suffer the same fate Ken and Wormmon did, and if he hadn't been raised in such strictly, disciplined way by his family, he likely would've gone crazy like Takeru did. And now in the state Upamon was in, Iori was afraid that Upamon might not answer him.

"Yeah, I'm ok. Just need some food, and I'll be on my feet again" Upamon answered back to Iori, trying to keep up an upbeat front despite the pain he was in.

"After this is over, I'll give you all the food you want." Iori ensured his digimon partner, his mind eased by his partner's attempt of humor.

"Poromon, please answer me. Are you alright?" Miyako asked her partner, worried for his well-being. Poromon was still nearly deaf, and he couldn't hear Miyako's question.

"What?" Poromon asked, and Miyako answered him with something. He didn't hear what she said, and he was too tired to actually care right now. After that battle, he needed some rest.

"Sorry Miyako, but I can't hear you, and I need to rest right now." Poromon said, falling into a slumber.

"_Now it's all up to me._" Angewomon thought to herself, reading herself for her part of the plan. Her eyes concentrated themselves toward that monster who still was screaming in pain, nothing but icy and cold hatred reflecting from her beautifully blue-coloured orbs.

MaloMyotismon was in a massive pain, and that pissed him off, big time. After that mutant freak's sneak attack, his right eye was now nothing but history. Where his right eye once was, there was now only a burn that hurt like shit, and the pain caused his hatred to become ten times more stronger than it already was. How dared that freak attack him like that? How dared he make him feel pain? How dared he burn away his eye? The stomach of that insignificent piece of shit. Once his pain was dulled enough, he'd make that bastard regret the day it was ever created.

"_Dammit it hurts! Why didn't I finished that overgrown piece of shit off before I ranted?! That mongrel and his intervension, if it wasn't for him, I'd still have my eye! When I get my claws on him, I'll tear him limb by limb, and then I'll kill the rest, and I'll make their deaths as painfull as they can be! Dammit it hurt so much!_"

"Celestral Arrow!" MaloMyotismon heard behind him, and he turned around to see what was happening, ignoring the burning pain for a moment. He saw Angewomon pointing at him with her bow, and electric energy comming out the glowing ring and charging up in her other arm, forming into an arrow of light for her to use. As she prepared to shoot, MaloMyotismon's mind immediately went alart. He remembered the last time that arrow pierced through his heart, and that was something he didn't want to experience again. Not that he believed that Angewomon could actually kill him now, but that event still made its scar on his mind, and it looked like her attack would cause a lot of damage anyway.

"You're going to shoot me again?" MaloMyotismon asked, somewhat fearful of how Angewomon would answer.

"Yes, I will." Angewomon answered, her voice thick with disgust for that creature of darkness and his half-burned face.

"Ah, come on now. You don't need to do this. You've always been my favorite subordinate. Your skills and compentence were something that I took much pride into, and even if you've betrayed me, I still remember how fiercely loyal you once were, and how much of my successes were thanks to you, my dear. Say what, if you pull down that bow of yours, get on your kneels and ask for my forgiveness and a chance to return to your former place as my second-in-command, I promise that I'll not only spare you, but I'll also spare your new human partner, her brother and her family!" MaloMyotismon promised to his former minion, and one would be surprised to know that he actually was sincere with his promise. He actually planned to keep his promise to Angewomon, if only due to entirely selfish, pragmatic reasons.

The reason for Angewomon was not just because he wanted to test out his new-found human-like desires on her, but also because her skills were something he would've use of in the comming war. The reason for her human filth of a partner was because she possessed a gift that was beyond any value. A gift that would help him reach unlimited powers of divinity, to make him a God amongst mortals.

And about that loudmouthed, retarded, spiky-haired brother of hers, and the rest of her pathetic family...well, he promised that _he_ wouldn't kill them. Nothing about that _they_ wouldn't.

Angewomon sneered when she heard that monster's so-called promise. She'd served that dark being long enough to know how deceitful he was and how his promises were worth less than dirt, and she wouldn't let herself fall for it. Without anymore hesitation, she let go of the arrow, and it flew toward MaloMyotismon in a fast speed.

MaloMyotismon's half-burned face paled as the arrow was getting closer to him, and he'd only enough time to pull his right arm up to protect himself before the arrow hit him, piercing though his arm and starting to electrify his body.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" MaloMyotismon screamed as the pain caused by that electric arrow went wild in him. Even if it hurt less than the last time, it still hurt him a lot. But the pain didn't last that long as the arrow, like before, exploded in a bright, all-consuming light.

"BBBBBBOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!"

The explosion almost consumed the entire landscape, and lightened up the dark sky with such blinding strength that the Digidestined and their partners were forced to cover their eyes, even Hikari and Angewomon. However, covering her eyes was the last thing Angewomon did before she digidevolved to Nyaromon. Just like her friends, she too used all of her remaining energy to make her attack, and now she couldn't remain in her ultimate level. She fell toward the ground, her eyes still closed, and she could feel the weightlessness in her stomach as she fell. Thinking that this was it, she prepared herself mentally for the slam, hoping it'd be quick. However, she felt something take hold of her before she could hit the ground. Something solf and tendering. Curious, Nyaromon opened her eyes, and she saw the one who saved her.

"Hikari?" Nyaromon said, surprised.

"Yeah, it's me. Are you alright?" Hikari asked, worried for her digimon partner's well-being.

"I'll be fine." Nyaromon answered, too prideful to say anything else.

"Is he gone?" Nyaromon asked.

"I think so. I don't see him at least." Hikari answered, unsure if her partner's attack actually worked. The landscape became dark again after the explosion, and where MaloMyotismon used to stand, only dust could be seen. Since she didn't actually see MaloMyotismon die, she couldn't be sure if they actually defeated him. But surely they just did that. Not even he could've survived that blast, right?

The other Digidestined and their digimon partners asked themselves the same question: did they win? They couldn't see MaloMyotismon, only dust everywhere. But surely they just won, right? Afterall, that was one big, powerful explosion, and not even MaloMyotismon could've survived that. It was just impossible for him to survive that, it just was. That was what they though to themselves, trying to calm their worries down. The battle had put them to the edge, and the sheer evilness they'd witnessed from MaloMyotismon had shocked them to the core. Thinking that it was impossible for him to survive that explosion was a good way to calm down their nerves, if just little.

And so was Hikari thinking, hoping that their struggle finally paid off. Hoping that the sacrifice Ken, Wormmon, Daisuke and Veemon had paid with was not wasted.

But then she felt it.

The hatred.

The endless hatred that came out in waves from the dust, feeling like they'd drown her like an unstoppable tsunami.

Hikari was frozen with sheer terror. She knew where all that hatred came from, or more likely _who_ it came from. She couldn't believe it. How could they've failed despite all their efforts? Despite all their sacrifices?

"No." Hikari fearfully whispered, to shocked and terrified to use a louder tone.

"What?" Nyaromon asked, hearing what Hikari whispered and not liking how pale and fearful she suddenly looked.

But Hikari didn't answer. The hatred that she felt surpressed ten times over anything else she'd ever felt before, and like a raging storm it felt like it'd twist and turn and rip her into pieces with ruthless aggression, as she felt the endless rage and bloodlust that came with the hatred. Like sharp teeth it cut through to the deepest parts of her heart and soul, and it caused her to become panicky paralyzed, as the hatred was of such strength it almost put the darkness from the Dark Ocean to shame.

"Hikari, what's wrong?" Takeru asked, frightened by Hikari's paralyzed, frozen state and the fearful look on her sudden pale face.

Without looking at Takeru, Hikari slowly pulled up her finger and pointed foward, her eyes wide with fear.

Takeru looked at where Hikari pointed at, and he immediately paled at the sight, his face grimacing with denial and horror.

The dust had cleared down, and the very being of their enemy showed itself to the shocked Digidestined. Indeed, MaloMyotismon had survived the explosion, though not unharmed. Where his right arm used to be, only a stump of a limb remained, and burns covered om him everywhere. He felt massive pain in his blown-up limb, but he didn't pay any attention to it. His remaining eye glared at the Digidestined, a raging inferno of never ending hatred behind that yellow orb. Those brats thought that he was defeated, but they didn't know what kind of a beast they'd awaken from its slumber. This time, he'd teach them the true meaning of fear.

The true meaning of war.

"If you little punks thought that I'd been a pain to you, trust me. You haven't even seen the beginning of what I'm capable of. When this's over, you'll beg for your death." MaloMyotismon said, his voice cold and deceptively calm.

Merely the calm before the storm.


End file.
